Sanjay Nirupam warns Cong against joining hands with Shiv Sena, expresses doubts over govt stability

While Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress seem to be close to the final stage before government formation in Maharashtra, Congress leader Sanjay Raut on Friday expressed doubts over the stability of the alliance.

Taking to Twitter, Nirupam warned his own party leaders against forming the government with the support of Shiv Sena.

"Our leaders saying that we are taking the risk of joining hands with the Shiv Sena to stop the BJP. But how long will the government of three parties work?" Nirupam's Hindi tweet read.

The Congress leader said that if the tri-party alliance gets collapsed before five years then "either BJP will form a government with someone or elections will be held. Thus in both cases, BJP will benefit and the Congress will be harmed."

On Thursday Nirupam had stoked a note of caution for his party saying that partnering at the third position in a Shiv Sena-led government is like 'burying' Congress in the state.

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 12 pm, comes hours ahead of the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena meeting scheduled at 4 pm today.

Apart from these three major parties, smaller allies of Congress and NCP like Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Peasants and Workers Party of India, Samajwadi Party etc will also be a part of the alliance. They will most likely be part of the 'Maha Vikas Aghadi', the expected name of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in the state.

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 told that power-distribution among the allies would soon be finalised in a couple of meetings.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with 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 had 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.