A day after a meeting of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress to discuss a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for a coalition government with the Shiv Sena, the three parties got together on Thursday for the same.
The leaders of the three parties have finalised the draft of CMP for a coalition government in Maharashtra after several rounds consultations over the last two days and the same will be submitted to their respective party presidents.
At a joint press conference held by Sena's Eknath Shinde, Congress' Prithviraj Chavan and NCP's Jayant Patil, they said the final call be taken by the heads of the three parties after a discussion among themselves.
"We all met and discussed the common minimum program. We made our report. We will submit our draft to party President of respective parties. Party presidents may discuss it and take a final call," the said.
The details of the CMP have not been made public, reports said farm loan waiver, unemployment and higher MSPs were at the top of the agenda.
Sources also revealed that Sonia Gandhi-led Congress wants Sena to leave its Hindutva agenda and make a commitment on secularism.
President's Rule was imposed in the state on Thursday after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's report to Centre that no stable government was possible in Maharashtra under the current political scenario.
Shah, however, said that any party which has the numbers can still approach the governor. "Even today if anyone has the numbers they can approach the governor. The governor has not denied the chance to anyone. A learned lawyer like Kapil Sibal is putting forth childish arguments like 'we were denied a chance to form government'."
Shiv Sena and BJP contested the recently-held assembly elections together but failed to reach an agreement for government formation. The Shiv Sena's demand of 50-50 government formula, asking for the chief minister's post of two and half years was not accepted by the BJP.
After BJP failed to stake claim to form the government, the Shiv Sena has tried to enlist the support of NCP and Congress for an alliance government.
Since Shiv Sena has 56 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly, way below the half-way mark of 144, it will need both the NCP's 54 and Congress' 44 legislators to reach the magic number.
