NEW DELHI: The deliberation on Maharashtra government formation is on last leg with the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena arriving on consensus on the Common Minimum Program (CMP) but all eyes are on the final meet of Sharad Pawar with Sonia Gandhi. Sources say that Pawar is likely to be accompanied by Uddhav Thackeray to meet Sonia.
The meeting is likely to happen on Tuesday or Wednesday as the CMP gets finalized among the three parties.
Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet Congress emissaries named by Sonia Gandhi on Monday in New Delhi. The three leaders - Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal will sit with Pawar to fine-tune the power-sharing agreement and the CMP between the three parties before the final deal is put to Sonia Gandhi, said sources.
The power sharing agreement is in the final stage, said a source. A senior leader from the state said, "we are not in a hurry as these types of alliances take time to formulate as the ideology was a major hiccup which is being resolved".
Meanwhile, in a major political development, the Shiv Sena will be sitting with Opposition in both houses of the Parliament, beginning from Monday, with the opposition getting a major boost ahead of the winter session.
The Shiv Sena has 18 MPs in Lok Sabha, while it has three MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
Sources said Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will no longer occupy seats behind the treasury benches in Rajya Sabha in accordance with standard parliamentary procedures. Sources said the new seats have been allotted to them with Opposition MPs.