Mumbai: In a hush-hush meeting, the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena have finalised the draft of their common minimum programme for government formation in Maharashtra.
The CMP will have to be approved by top leaders of the three parties before being given the go-ahead.
After the frenzy of the last few days with conflicting statements emanating from all sides, the troika is walking on eggshells and leaders are extremely wary of what they are putting out in public domain.
No wonder, the meetings on Thursday were kept under the wraps. The time and location were kept a secret, though the pesky media finally unravelled the location -- Chhagan Bhujbal's institute MET at Bandra.
Nonetheless, the process of government formation has gained momentum. The Shiv Sena has summoned all its legislators to Mumbai on November 17, the death anniversary of its founder Balasaheb Thackeray. This is also an indication that the new government will be formed, in all likelihood, any time after November 17.
"Our discussions will end in a week and the government will be formed in the next 15 days," a senior Congress leader said. The direct contact between the Shiv Sena and the Congress has helped matters and speeded up the government formation. Before this, both parties were communicating with each other through the NCP.
"There is a consensus on a common agenda of governance which will be called the CMP. We have finalised the draft and are sending it to our respective party high commands," said Vijay Wadettiwar, a senior Congress leader who is part of the coordination committee.
In the meeting on the MET campus, the Sena was represented by Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai; Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and
Nawab Mallik spoke for the NCP; and Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thackeray and Vijay Wadettiwar represented the Congress.
NCP leader Nawab Mallik, while maintaining that the next chief minister will be from the Shiv Sena, said that the Congress will take a call on joining the government or supporting it from outside.
"The Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP on the issue of Chief Minister’s post. Therefore, the CM post will go to them. There is no talk about the Deputy CM post.
The Congress is not ready to join the government but we are pressing them to do so," Mallik told the media. But Wadettiwar claimed that the Congress will join the cabinet after a consensus is reached on the CMP.
"We will disclose the CMP after the green signal from our party high-command," he added. NCP MLA and former state deputy chief minister Ajit
Pawar on Wednesday told media persons that a scheduled meeting between his party and the Congress was cancelled and that he was going to Baramati, triggering speculation about possible differences between the allies.
"The Congress and the NCP leaders had to lie on Wednesday to keep the media at bay. Now, secrecy is being maintained," a leader said on condition of anonymity.
