The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), that held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the modalities of the government formation in Maharashtra, want Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as the next chief minister of the state, sources told India Today TV.

The sources also said while there was no discussion on the distribution of the portfolios in the meeting, the Congress wants an equal distribution of the ministerial berths in the Maharashtra government.

The Congress leaders held a meeting with the NCP leaders at Sharad Pawar's residence in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the modalities of an alliance with the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra.

"Congress and the NCP both demand that Uddhav Thackeray should be the chief minister. Even the Shiv Sena Legislative party leader Eknath Shinde has said that the party MLAs want Uddhav Thackeray to be the Maharashtra chief minister," the sources told India Today TV.

Sources present in the meeting said that while the word 'secular' has been dropped from the final CMP draft, in principle, there is a clear paragraph stating that the new government will abide by the ethos of the Preamble of the Constitution.

The Shiv Sena MLAs are likely to fly to Jaipur in Rajasthan on Friday ahead of the party's meeting with the Congress in Mumbai.

WHAT CONG-NCP-SENA WANT

While the Shiv Sena wants urban development, PwD, home department and education (higher technical, medical and school and rural development portfolios, the Nationalist Congress Party wants one of its party members to be elected the Speaker.

The Sharad Pawar-led party also demanded home, finance, PwD, water resources and rural development. On the other hand, Congress wants Speaker, finance, rural development and revenue. The NCP has not made any demand for a rotational chief minister.

While Congress even asked the NCP about it but they kept mum, the sources have informed. All the issues would be discussed in Friday's meeting, sources said.

Sources said the Congress wants equal distribution of portfolios which is 14-14-14 for the three parties. In the meeting, the NCP did not raise the demands for a rotational chief minister but did agree that Uddhav Thackeray should be the chief minister of the state.

Another source confirmed that the NCP would be looking at convincing the Shiv Sena for sharing the tenure of the chief minister for two-and-half years.

FINAL DECISION ON FRIDAY: PRITHVIRAJ CHAVAN

Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said the final decision on the party's decision to support the Shiv Sena to form the government in Maharashtra would be taken on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said all the negotiations with the NCP are over. Prithviraj Chavan said the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have completed discussions and "there is complete unanimity on all issues". A meeting would be held with the Shiv Sena on Friday, after which, a decision would be announced, he said.

Prithviraj Chavan, Congress: Congress & NCP have completed discussions on all issues. There is complete unanimity. Tomorrow in Mumbai, we will have meeting with our other alliance parties. Later in the day, we will have discussion with Shiv Sena. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/Fkpx3PshL0 ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2019





Flanked by NCP leader Nawab Malik, Prithviraj Chavan kept the presser short and crisp, this for the second time within 24 hours.

"The meeting with NCP has been concluded and there is complete unanimity between the parties on issues. The party will hold discussions with Shiv Sena later in the day before that we will hold talks with our alliance parties on Friday," he said.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar also headed to Mumbai after the meeting. The meeting was attended by Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Prithviraj Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Naseem Khan. The NCP leaders included Praful Patel, Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik.

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