Congress and NCP are trying to corner Shiv Sena: Ram Kadam, BJP

With uncertainty looming large over who will form the government in Maharashtra, BJP leader Ram Kadam said that the Congress and NCP are trying to corner Shiv Sena. He also said that despite holding several meetings the three parties are nowhere close to forming a government in the state.

"Both Congress and NCP are trying to corner Shiv Sena," said Ram Kadam.

"It is unfortunate that for last 28 days all the three parties (Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena) are holding meetings after meetings without any conclusion. When will their meetings end?" asked Kadam.

"On one hand it is being shown that meetings are going on while on the other hand, senior leaders of NCP are issuing statements denying it," he said.

"They have no agenda, no plan. While one party admits having a common minimum programme, the other is out-right contradicting it. Their ideologies are entirely different and they cannot take Maharashtra forward," said the BJP leader.

Meanwhile, a meeting of Congress and NCP leaders is scheduled to be held on Wednesday evening in the national capital. NCP leaders including party chief Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Ajit Pawar, and Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan amongst others will be present at the meeting.

On Monday, Sharad Pawar met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi at the latter's residence here. However, the NCP leader said that they did not talk about government formation in Maharashtra.

Both parties contested the recently culminated polls in an alliance but could not reach the halfway figure in the 288-member Assembly.

Maharashtra came under President's Rule on November 9 after all parties failed to form the government in the state.

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats. Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats; NCP and Congress have 54 and 44 MLAs respectively in the state assembly.