india

Updated: Jul 27, 2020 08:18 IST

Shiv Sena on Thursday said that a decision on the government formation in Maharashtra will be taken in the next two days. The regional party is in talks with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress to stitch an alliance in the state.

“The process to form a government would be completed before December 1 and the three parties concerned would hold a meeting in Mumbai,” senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.

Raut’s comments come on a day the Congress Working Committee, the top decision-making body of the party, met at Sonia Gandhi’s residence in New Delhi.

Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, KC Venugopal and Ambika Soni were among top leaders who attended the meeting.

Venugopal echoed Raut’s view and said a decision on Maharashtra is likely to be taken by tomorrow. “We have apprised the CWC members of the latest political situation in Maharashtra. Today, Congress-NCP discussion will continue. I think, tomorrow, we will probably have a decision in Mumbai,” Venugopal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Senior Congress and NCP leaders met in Delhi on Wednesday evening and agreed in principle to form a stable government in Maharashtra with Sena.

Raut is set for a meeting with NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday afternoon to discuss contours of a Sena-NCP-Congress government.

“After the meeting yesterday, senior leaders of the two parties spoke to Uddhav Thackeray on the phone,” Raut said.

The Congress, NCP meet lasted for over 3 hours and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan told reporters that the leaders looked into various aspects of government formation.

The discussions and consultations between the two parties would continue on Thursday.

“We will be able to give (Maharashtra) a stable government as soon as possible,” Chavan, a former Maharashtra chief minister, said. This was the first time in days that Congress has expressed intent to be part of a new government in state.

Pawar had met Sonia Gandhi on Monday but said that he had only briefed her about the situation in Maharashtra and didn’t discuss about a possible tie-up with Sena.