Congress, NCP Likely to Hold Talks in Delhi Over Possible Tie-up with Shiv Sena

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The meetings in the national capital will follow deliberations among Pawar, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel and other senior leaders of the two parties here on Tuesday.

Mumbai: The Congress and NCP are likely to hold meetings in Delhi in next three to four days to work out modalities of their possible tie-up with the Shiv Sena to form government in Maharashtra.

Sources said on Wednesday that NCP chief Sharad Pawar, and senior party leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare are likely to hold parleys with the Congress to evolve a consensus on what should be the policies if the Shiv Sena is to be backed to form government.

"The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) will take a call on who will discuss these issues with the NCP on our party's behalf. The discussions are likely to be held in Delhi over the next three to four days," a senior Congress leader told PTI on condition of anonymity. The leader reiterated that the Congress and NCP will first work out details of the 'common minimum programme' (CMP)

at their level before the Shiv Sena comes into picture.

The meetings in the national capital will follow deliberations among Pawar, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel and other senior leaders of the two parties here on Tuesday. The Congress and NCP have set in motion the process of holding meetings after the Shiv Sena turned away from its ally BJP, and approached them seeking support to form government in Maharashtra- placed under the President's rule on Tuesday.

The BJP and Shiv Sena contested the October 21 Assembly polls together. They, however, fell out after the Shiv Sena persisted with its demand of sharing the chief minister's post on rotational basis.

On Wednesday, the NCP named its leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Nawab Malik and Dhananjay Munde as members of the joint committee to be formed to discuss the CMP with the Congress. "State leaders of both the parties will work out the CMP at their level first. Then the same will be discussed in the meetings of national leaders in Delhi," a senior NCP leader said.

In the last month's polls to 288-member state Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena-56, the NCP-54 and the Congress-44. Any party or alliance that seeks to form government in Maharashtra will have to secure support of at least 145 MLAs on the floor of the House.