Maharashtra Government Formation Updates: NCP Says Governor Has Given Them Till 8:30 P.M. Tuesday To Stake Claim

NCP leader Jayant Patil said that the governor has invited NCP to stake claim to form government. The deadline is 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Patil maintained NCP’s stance that it will first consult with ally Congress.

The Maharashtra Governor has called NCP for a meeting, senior leader Ajit Pawar said in a media conference. The purpose of the meeting is not clear as the governor has not indicated why he wants to meet.

Watch: Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde and former Lok Sabha Secretary-General Subhash Kashyap on Primetime Debate.

No Timeline Specified For Governor To Come Up With A Solution, Says Lawyer Hedge

The governor’s hands are “not tied” by a specific time limit as per the Indian Constitution to come up with a solution and address the political deadlock, said Supreme Court Sanjay Hegde.

• Governor has to invite the leader of the party he believes can prove the majority in the assembly.
• If the governor is not satisfied on majority condition, he may recommend president's rule in the state.
• Right now the second-largest party has shown willingness to form the government. However, the governor is entitled to request the party to prove its majority.
• A similar situation was witnessed after Moraji Desai’s government collapsed. Then-President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy asked YB Chavan to form the government. However, Chavan’s party failed to prove majority later.

The Congress on Monday decided to hold further talks with ally Nationalist Congress Party on whether to support the Shiv Sena to form a government in Maharashtra, according to newswire PTI’s report.

Governor Koshyari refused Shiv Sena’s request of two extra days to complete formalities and reach a conclusion in forming the government, said leader Aaditya Thackeray.

Other Highlights From The Press Meet

• Discussions with two other parties— National Congress Party and the Indian National Congress occurred in the last 24 hours.
• Shiv Sena will continue the process of trying to form the government.
• Shiv Sena's claim on the formation of a government in Maharashtra still stands legal.

News agency ANI has said that the Congress will support Shiv Sena and NCP in forming the government in Maharashtra. The final proceedings are being done.

Shiv Sena leaders Eknath Shinde and Aaditya Thackeray are on the way to Raj Bhavan where they are expected to stake claim to form government in Maharashtra after meeting Governor BS Koshyari on Monday evening.

Sources in the Sena told PTI, “As per the governor’s invitation to express our willingness and ability to form the government issued to us yesterday, we are responding to it positively.”

“We will seek time from the governor to prove majority in the house,” said a Sena leader. Shinde has been elected as the leader of the Sena’s legislative wing.

Aaditya Thackeray, son of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, was elected from Worli in Central Mumbai in the last month’s assembly polls.

With PTI inputs.

Congress party’s president Sonia Gandhi spoke to Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray over the phone, according to news agency ANI’s tweet.

Congress leaders, including AK Antony and Ahmed Patel, have started arriving at 10, Janpath—party president Sonia Gandhi’s residence—for deliberations on whether to support the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra.

The meeting will start shortly.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on Monday after he complained of chest pain, an official at the hospital said.

Raut, who has been speaking to the media daily on his party's stand on Maharashtra government formation, reached the hospital around 3:30 pm. "Raut visited the Lilavati Hospital after he complained for slight chest pain. He is being treated by Dr Jaleel Parkar," the official said.

"Raut came to the hospital two days back also for a routine check-up. An ECG was then done followed by some check-ups. Based on the ECG report, doctors advised him to come to the hospital today for further tests," he said.

Sanjay may be discharged tomorrow, said his brother and Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Raut. "Doctors will decide in the evening whether to perform an angiography or not," he said.

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, who resigned as the Union Heavy Industries Minister on Monday, has heaped praise on Aaditya Thackeray, a Maharashtra MLA from Worli, Mumbai. Thackeray is the first member in three generations of his family who has contested and won an election.

“If the Congress gives support to Shiv Sena, they should not disturb it for the next five years. Then only people will trust the Congress,” HD Deve Gowda, chief of Janata Dal (Secular) said in Bengaluru on Monday.

The Congress and JD(S) led a strife-ridden Karnataka government for one year after assembly elections in May 2018. The BJP, which had emerged as the biggest party but failed to get majority, returned to power earlier in 2019 when the Congress-JD(S) alliance fell apart due to resignations of the their MLAs.

Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said Maharashtra must get a government soon to carry out public works.

On whether Congress will play a role in Maharashtra government formation, Scindia said, "I don't want to comment on this as discussions are underway. The mandate was for the BJP-Shiv Sena but at the moment there is a strange situation.”

All 44 Congress MLAs from Maharashtra are in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and senior leaders are deliberating on the party's next move.

In a meeting with Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Monday, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray sought NCP’s support to form the next Maharashtra government.

Thackeray and Pawar met at a hotel ahead of the 7:30 pm deadline set by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the Shiv Sena to stake claim for government formation.

During their 45-minute meeting, Thackeray and Pawar discussed "common minimum programme", including the agrarian issue, that will guide the action of their government in case it is formed, sources said.

NCP has not yet announced its decision to back a Shiv Sena-led government, saying it will take a call based on the steps its ally Congress takes.

"The Shiv Sena chief requested Pawar for support. They also discussed the common minimum programme," a source said. Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut were also present at the hotel, he said. From the NCP, senior leaders Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare were present, the source said.

Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said if the BJP was not willing to fulfill its promise of sharing the chief minister's post in Maharashtra, there was no point in continuing the alliance.

The BJP has "insulted" the people's mandate by not abiding to the "50:50" formula which, Raut said, was decided before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"The BJP's arrogance that it would sit in the opposition but not share the chief minister's post has led to this situation...if the BJP is not willing to implement its promise, then there is no meaning in stay with the alliance," Raut said.

Reaching out to opposition parties, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP said the Congress and NCP should bury their internal differences to come up with a "common minimum programme" in the interest of Maharashtra. "The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress agree on protecting the interest of Maharashtra," he said.

With the deadlock continuing over Maharashtra government formation, NCP leader Nawab Malik on Monday said it is the responsibility of "all of us" to give an alternative considering the plight of people in the state.

Malik, however, said the NCP will take any decision in consensus with its ally Congress.

"It is the responsibility of us all to give an alternative given the plight of the people and farmers. We are expecting a decision from the Congress. If there is a consensus, we will proceed towards government formation," the NCP's chief spokesperson said.

Malik, however, said that the NCP will not proceed with its decision till the Congress leadership takes a call on government formation in the state. The Congress' top leaders will hold meetings in Delhi at 4:00 pm today.

Senior Congress Pallam Raju on Monday said there was no question on compromising on the party’s principles for Maharashtra government formation.

"There is no question of a compromise, we (Congress) act in a very very responsible manner and we do look to (NCP President) Sharad Pawar, who is a senior leader in Maharashtra, to also decide what should be the outcome," Raju said.

Stating that Congress always maintained an arm's length with the Shiv Sena, Raju said it is their internal differences with the BJP that has precipitated the situation in Maharashtra. "We have to wait for the outcome of what is happening,” he said.

"Despite having an electoral understanding, BJP and Shiv Sena have failed to form the government because of internal differences, we have nothing do with it. People have given us the opposition status; we will play that role," he added. PTI

Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress' general secretary and incharge for Maharashtra said the party will discuss the possibility of offering an alternative in Maharashtra with some of the senior leaders from the state.

"We will announce our decision by 4 pm today," he said. The Shiv Sena has time till 7.30 pm on Monday to stake claim on Maharashtra government formation.

The Congress, which won 44 seats in the Oct. 21 Maharashtra elections, holds the key to form a "non-BJP" government in the state. The Shiv Sena, which is determined to form a government without its long-term ally BJP, said it is waiting for an official communication of support from both the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.

"All Shiv Sena MLAs have signed a proposal to stake claim and form the government. We are, however, waiting for an official communication from the NCP and Congress on extending support to us,” Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik said.

NCP's Chief Spokesperson Nawab Malik said it is the responsibility of "all of us" to give an alternative considering the plight of people in the state. "Once we receive an official communication from Congress, the decision will be announced jointly," he said. PTI

The Shiv Sena on Monday was racing against time to cobble together an alliance to form the next government in Maharashtra, with the Congress and the NCP weighing extending support to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

Amid a flurry of meetings in Delhi and in Mumbai, the NCP has said that it will decide on whether to support a Shiv Sena-led government in coordination with ally Congress.

The Congress is expected to take a final call on extending support to the Shiv Sena at a meeting of its top leadership with Maharashtra state leaders at 4:00 pm.

The Shiv Sena, the second-largest party in the 288-member House with 56 MLAs has time till 7:30 pm to stake claim on Maharashtra government formation. PTI

Amid the impasse over Maharashtra government formation, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has the discretion to consider all equations and combinations and call each party one by one to stake claim, say legal experts.

If the governor, after giving reasonable time to the parties, comes to the conclusion that none of them shall be able to form a viable and stable government, then the president's rule will be the last option, they said. (read more) PTI

With Congress’ 44 Maharashtra MLAs housed in a Jaipur resort, the party’s working committee convened a meeting in New Delhi on Monday to decide on whether to support Shiv Sena in forming the next government in the state.

The party’s Maharashtra MLAs, however, are not in favour of fresh state elections. Congress General Secretary Incharge for Maharashtra, Mallikarjun Kharge, who heard the views of the MLAs, conveyed their feelings to Gandhi and the CWC, sources said. PTI

Amid the stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray met NCP President Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Monday.

The Sena chief was accompanied by his son Aaditya Thackeray as he called on Pawar at an undisclosed location, sources said.

The Congress and NCP are at present holding parleys at their respective party levels on whether to support a Shiv Sena-led government in the state. The two parties have already declared that whatever the decision, they will take it together. PTI

The stalemate over Maharashtra government formation continued for the 18th day on Monday. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which emerged as the largest party with 105 seats after Maharashtra election results were declared Oct. 24, declined Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s invitation to form the next government.

The governor then approached the next biggest party, BJP ally Shiv Sena, whose Union Minister Arvind Sawant resigned from the Modi Cabinet earlier on Monday.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has time till 7:30 pm Monday to stake claim and form the next state government. The role of Congress, with 44 MLAs, and the Nationalist Congress Party, with 54 MLAs, has thus become crucial.

Here are the live updates, developments on Maharashtra govenrment formation:

Hours after resigning as the Union Heavy Industries Minister, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant said a new government is now being formed in Maharashtra.

“When I have resigned, you can understand what it means,” Sawant said when asked if the Shiv Sena has quit the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. “The BJP had agreed with Sena to equal division of seats and power, but it has now rejected this.”

“A new government is now being formed in Maharashtra,” Sawant said. PTI