Maharashtra govt formation: NCP chief Sharad Pawar may open cards today

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is likely to address a press conference on the issue of government formation in Maharashtra today.

MUMBAI: As BJP and Shiv Sena continue to spar over power-sharing in Maharashtra, the next twenty fours are likely to be crucial for government formation in the state. According to Zee Media sources, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who had recently met interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the national capital, is likely to hold a press conference on the issue of government formation in the state.

During the press conference, Pawar is likely to open his cards on the issue.  

It may be recalled that Pawar's NCP and Congress had earlier sought the intervention of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to resolve the impasse over government formation in the state due to differences between ruling BJP and Shiv Sena on power-sharing.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis too had a meeting with BJP core committee members at his official residence in Mumbai and then touched down in Nagpur to meet the RSS chief.

Fadnavis came to Nagpur a day after he met BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi.

Gadkari is likely to meet Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday as a stand-off between the twp parties over power-sharing continues. 

The development came hours after Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil announced that a BJP-led government would be formed in Maharashtra very soon with Fadnavis as its leader. He also added that the BJP hasn't received any proposal from Shiv Sena so far and it will be discussed once the party gets it.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena chief hinted that dialogue with the BJP is completely closed for now, and the party is all set to work on the implementation of its Plan B. 

Sources on Tuesday informed that Sena's plan B includes getting outside support from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress to form the government.

The delay in the government formation is because of differences in the BJP and Shiv Sena on power-sharing. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has been insisting that the two parties had agreed to a '50-50` power-sharing agreement before the assembly elections and that they should stick to it.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 105 seats while Shiv Sena got 56 in the 288-member state assembly. The results of assembly polls were announced on October 24.