Sena-NCP-Cong govt set to take shape in Maharashtra

The first-ever Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra appears to be taking definitive shape with Sharad Pawar on Friday announcing the prospective government will complete five-year term and provide a development-oriented administration.

The three-party coalition, a new experiment in Maharashtra involving outfits with diverse ideologies, will be led by the Sena, leaders in the Uddhav Thackeray party, the NCP said, settling the contentious leadership issue that resulted in the unravelling of the saffron alliance.

The three parties have already prepared a draft common minimum programme (CMP) that will guide their fledgling coalition’s agenda in the state, where politics has broadly revolved around BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP blocs in the last two decades.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government will be formed and it will complete the five-year term as he ruled out the possibility of mid-term polls in the state.

Pawar told reporters in Nagpur the three parties want to form a stable government which will be development-oriented.

There is no possibility of mid-term polls. This government will be formed and it will complete five years. We all will ensure this government runs for five years, Pawar said.

Speaking in Mumbai, Pawar’s colleague and NCP chief spokesman Nawab Malik said the CM’s post will go to the Shiv Sena.

“The chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena. It walked away from the ‘Mahayuti’ (grand alliance) on the issue of the chief minister’s post. It is our responsibility to respect its sentiment,” Malik said.

At a meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, leaders of the Congress, the NCP and the Sena prepared the draft CMP, which will be forwarded for approval to top leaders of the three parties.