MUMBAI: At a time when Congress-NCP seems to move ahead towards forming the government with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam stoked a note of caution for his party saying that partnering at the third position in a Shiv Sena-led government is like 'burying' Congress in the state.
To emphasise his point, Nirupam drew parallels with Congress forging an alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh years ago, pointing out that the "party has not been able to revive" after that.
"Years ago, Congress had committed a mistake in Uttar Pradesh by forging an alliance with BSP. After that, it was beaten in such manner that it has not been able to revive till date. We are repeating the same mistake in Maharashtra. Being at the third position in Shiv Sena's government is nothing short of burying Congress in the state. It would be better if Congress President doesn't come under any pressure," he tweeted.
"I would request the Congress MLAs of Maharashtra not to put pressure on the top leadership for forging an alliance with Shiv Sena and rather sit in Opposition. The government formed would be highly unstable with no future," said Nirupam while talking to ANI.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) met in the national capital on Thursday to discuss the issue of government formation in Maharashtra.
A meeting of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders was also held at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence on Wednesday over the same.
Leaders from both the parties were present including Ahmed Patel, KC Venugopal, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, and Supriya Sule among others.
Maharashtra came under President's Rule after all the parties failed to form a government in the state.
BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.
Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP only to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by Governor BS Koshyari.
The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state.
The Shiv Sena is now in parley with the Congress and NCP to form a government in the state.
The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.