MUMBAI: For the first time in the state, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held direct talks with senior Congress leaders on government formation on Wednesday. The parties, along with NCP, set up coordination panels to thrash out details in a firm push 20 days after the Maharashtra poll results to put in place a government.Undeterred by the imposition of President’s rule, Thackeray held a brief one-to-one meeting with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel a little after Tuesday midnight, and followed it up later on Wednesday with an hour-long interaction with former CM Ashok Chavan , state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat and former state party chief Manikrao Thakre . Letters of Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena on forming government are ready and once the formula is approved, the documents will be submitted to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari , said reports.Live updates: Maharashtra government formation“It was nice to interact with Uddhav Thackeray. As far as I remember, it is for the first time we had a direct dialogue with the Shiv Sena president. It was cordial. We are moving in the right direction for formation of government,” Chavan told TOI.Simultaneously, Sharad Pawar, seen as the prime broker of the Sena-NCP-Congress front, set up a five-member coordination committee on Wednesday to draft a common minimum programme. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik explained that Congress, NCP and Sena would first meet separately. A common minimum programme will be thrashed out at joint meetings and finally submitted to Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for approval.On Wednesday evening itself, a joint Congress-NCP meeting was held, but not before a bit of drama. During the NCP panel meet at Pawar’s residence earlier, Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil were seen leaving. On being questioned by reporters, Ajit Pawar said he was returning to Baramati, his constituency, fuelling rumours. However, Malik dismissed all speculation and said both leaders were present at the joint meeting. In fact, Ajit Pawar was the first to reach the venue, he added.The NCP coordination committee comprises state party chief Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde and party spokesperson Nawab Malik. The Congress panel will have on board Thorat, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan , Manikrao Thakre, Sushilkumar Shinde and leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar.Malik was confident of forming government at the earliest. “All parties have agreed in principle to ensure BJP does not come to power. Basic formalities are being completed. In fact, following imposition of President’s rule, we are not in a hurry, we have ample time for submission of documents,’’ he said.Ashok Chavan said the main discussion now is on the common minimum programme, ideology and power-sharing formula. “I think issues like CMP and ideology will be settled soon, we will need more time to work out the power-sharing formula. So far, there is absolutely no discussion and decision on the formula. Reports in a section of the media on sharing of the CM’s post are not true,’’ he added. Prithviraj Chavan also tweeted: “A meeting of Congress party senior leaders is going on. All other news aired by electronic media are baseless.”The reports had claimed Sena and NCP would share the CM’s post for 2.5 years each, while a Congress nominee would be deputy CM. Sena would get 16 cabinet members, NCP 14 and Congress 12, they had speculated.Ashok Chavan reiterated that the mandate for Congress and NCP was to sit in the opposition, however, “a new task has been entrusted to us after Shiv Sena withdrew from the NDA”. He alleged that following President’s rule, it appears that BJP is keen on forcing mid-term polls. “No political party is keen on mid-term polls. Since BJP is keen on securing power independently, it is drafting a new strategy, as a result mid-term polls could be on the cards,’’ he said.