Uddhav Thackeray

Jayant Patil

common minimum programme

Subhash Desai

Eknath Shinde

Nawab Malik

Chhagan Bhujbal

After Uddhav Thackeray’s Thursday morning meeting with Balasaheb Thorat and Jayant Patil, a CMP meeting of senior leaders was held in the evening at BKC. It was attended by Jayant Patil, Subhash Desai, Eknath Shinde, Nawab Malik, Chhagan Bhujbal, Vijay Wadettiwar and Manikrao Thakre

After closed-door meetings, leaders formulate 16:14:12 formula and agree on one ministry for every four MLAsAfter the 50:50-debacle with the BJP, the Shiv Sena has reached a 16:14:12 power sharing formula with the NCP and the Congress. Shiv Sena chiefheld a close-door meeting in Bandra on Thursday with state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat and NCP state president, with everyone agreeing to give Sena the chief minister’s post for the entire five years and giving the NCP and the Congress one deputy chief minister’s post each. The Speaker’s post will go to the Congress, the Deputy Speaker’s post to the NCP and the Legislative Council Chairman’s post to the Shiv Sena.The ministries, however, will be divided on the basis of the number of MLAs – for every four MLAs, a party will get one berth. The Shiv Sena, which has 56 MLAs, will get 16 ministries, the NCP will get 14 ministerial berths and the Congress will get 12. While the Sena is likely to retain the Urban Development and Finance portfolio, the NCP will get the Home portfolio and the Congress will get the Revenue ministry. Sources said all the 130 state-run corporations will also be shared in the 16:14:12 ratio. They said the alliance will be formally announced early next week after the(CMP) is approved by party heads.A senior Sena functionary said the parties have agreed “on a basic arrangement”. This, he said, can be altered after discussions with senior leaders. “Later, even constitutional posts will be shared,” he said, adding that the talks have now deviated from the earlier discussions of equally sharing the chief minister’s post. He added that at Thursday’s meeting Uddhav urged Thorat and Patil to ask their party leaderships to push the alliance faster as the state is reeling under the aftermath of a wet drought and urgently needs a stable government.Meanwhile, other senior leaders from the three parties held a parallel meeting on Thursday., Vijay Wadettiwar and Manikrao Thakre met at BKC on the crucial issues of farmers’ distress and employment generation. A Congress leader said a final draft of the CMP was created at the meeting.Coming out of the meeting, Wadettiwar said, “We discussed a lot of issues and it was a healthy discussion. We will send a report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji. Once the high command approves the CMP, it will be made public.” Another leader said the CMP has been drafted because Sena’s hard Hindutva is a concern. “The issue will be taken up by all parties after preliminary discussions are over,” he said.An NCP leader said it has chalked out a rough CMP draft with the Congress and wants Shiv Sena’s view on it. He said there are some common concerns like bringing in industry in the state and making 7/12 (farm) documents clean by waiving all the loans. Another NCP source said party chief Sharad Pawar is likely to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Sunday.The three parties are, however, maintaining high level of secrecy to avoid media glare. “Some issues are sensitive and cannot be discussed publicly. “Let us do our work peacefully,” said a leader, pointing out media reports that claimed how a meeting between Congress and NCP’s coordination committee was cancelled. In reality, he said, the meeting took place at another location.It was on Wednesday that the Shiv Sena had started direct discussions with Congress leaders on probable government formation in the state. Party sources said a direct channel with the Congress was opened after apparent delay and lack of enthusiasm displayed by the NCP. After a 30-minute meeting with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Tuesday night where Uddhav reportedly told him why Sena quit the alliance with the BJP, the Sena chief met Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Manikrao Thakre on Wednesday. These hectic parleys, Sena sources said, are because of the unusual nature of the alliance; the three parties have never before come together on any platform.