New Delhi : The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the highest decision-making body of the Congress to take all key decisions, but Sonia Gandhi bypassed it using her authority as the party president on Wednesday to allow the party to join the Shiv Sena-led coalition government in Maharashtra and secured its “in-principle” approval to her decision only Thursday morning.
Party general secretary KC Venugopal told reporters that the CWC chaired by Sonia Gandhi was briefed about the discussions held between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress leaders at Sharad Pawar’s residence in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. He said the CWC broadly agreed to go ahead with the government formation with Shiv Sena and NCP.
A top Congress source said AICC treasurer Ahmed Patel persuaded Sonia to approve the coalition government formation without first obtaining the CWC approval in view of reservations among some senior members led by AK Antony.
In a surprise move, Antony withdrew his objection to the deal with the Shiv Sena in the CWC’s meeting on Thursday after it was briefed about the revised common minimum programme (CMP) to be followed by the new government.
He was insisting on pressing the Shiv Sena’s pledge to the secularism but he was enthusiastic over its replacement as much better in the new CMP pledging for the preamble of the Constitution, promising to Maharashtra “justice, liberty, equality and fraternity” committed in the Preamble India as a sovereign socialist, secular and democratic Republic.
Everyone in the CWC was surprised over not only Antony’s changed stance but also his stress that efforts should be to have the government before November 30 when the first round of polling takes place in the 5-phase Jharkhand Assembly election to take advantage of the revolt in the ruling BJP there.
Sources said NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had impressed upon the NCP-Congress meeting on Wednesday night not to insist on “secularism” not acceptable to the Shiv Sena but adopt the Preamble of the Constitution as that was also acceptable to Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and all agreed.
The new CMP was given a final nod by a second NCP-Congress meeting at Pawar’s residence here Thursday afternoon. Both sides also exchanged names of the ministers of their respective parties that will be submitted, along with Jharkhand in the CMP, to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Friday for his final approval to lead MLAs of all the three parties to the Maharashtra governor possibly on Saturday to stake claim for forming the government.
The Congress sources said it has been left up to Thackeray to decide on all issues that were not sorted out, including whether he or any other Sena leader will be the chief minister, whether it will be the Sena chief minister for full 5-year term or the NCP will get the post in the last two-and-a-half years and who all and how many from each party to be inducted in the ministry.
They said Sharad Pawar agreed in Thursday’s meeting of the Congress and NCP leaders to leave it up to Thackeray to take the decisions on all issues that could not be resolved due to differences since he stressed that the topmost priority is to provide a pro-farmer non-BJP government to the state.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat issued a directive to all party MLAs in the state to reach Mumbai by Friday morning for the exercise of staking the claim to form the government. “We are all leaving for Mumbai in the evening after the formal meeting at Pawar saheb’s residence,” he said.
