Maharashtra govt formation: Shiv Sena leaders meet at Matoshree

Amid talks of government formation in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leaders on Friday met at party chief Uddhav Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' here.

"We have given the responsibility to Uddhav Thackeray. We will accept whatever decision he takes. He (Uddhav Thackeray) has said that the Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena," a party leader told ANI after the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the people of Maharashtra and Shiv Sainik's want party Chief Uddhav Thackeray to become the Chief Minister of the state.

He was replying to a query that according to some reports NCP chief Sharad Pawar has suggested his name as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

"This is incorrect. The people of Maharashtra and Shiv Sainiks want Uddhav Thackeray to be the Chief Minister," said Raut addressing a press conference here on Friday.

"The Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena and Sena's chief minister will be there for full 5 years," added Raut.

Meanwhile, smaller allies of NCP-Congress will hold meetings with the leaders of the alliance on Friday to work out final modalities and their role in the "Maha Vikas Aghadi" (NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena) government in the state.

The meeting, which will take place at noon, comes hours ahead of the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena meeting scheduled at 4 pm today.

According to the leaders of Congress and NCP, a common minimum programme to run the alliance government has been worked out after a series of meetings and several rounds of discussions. They also said that the power-sharing formula among the allies would soon be finalised.

Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP 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 state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

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

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

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