Congress, Shiv Sena leaders to discuss govt formation on Monday

The outcome of a scheduled meeting between Congress and Shiv Sena leaders on Monday will decide whether the two parties could go-ahead to form a government with NCP in Maharashtra.

"There is a meeting between the leaders of Shiv Sena and leaders of the Congress party tomorrow. We will find out if we can go ahead or not," Chavan told reporters here.

He said the Congress was trying to find a way out to form a government in Maharashtra. "We are trying to find a way out. We are trying to figure out whether Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP can come together," Chavan said.

The Congress leader's comments come hours after NCP's core committee meeting which will be followed by a meeting between Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday to discuss the government formation with Shiv Sena, a party with a totally different ideology.

Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena have recently announced to have come to a draft Minimum Common Programme (CMP) to form the government.

Maharashtra came under President's Rule earlier this week after all the parties failed to form a government in the state.

BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP only to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by Governor BS Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing to which the President's rule was imposed in the state on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena is now in parley with the Congress and NCP to form a government in the state.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.