Finalising Common Minimum Program first priority: Prithviraj

Talks of government formation between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena will start only after top leaders of the three parties approve a Common Minimum Program which is in the works, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said on Wednesday.

As President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday, the Congress and NCP are in a huddle, discussing whether and on what terms they should back the Sena for government formation.

Chavan, senior Congress leader and former chief minister, told PTI that the Congress and NCP are holding parleys on a possible Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which will be their "agenda of governance".

"We will meet the Shiv Sena leadership in one or two days," he added.

"The draft (CMP) will have to be approved by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray," he said, adding that only after that there will be talks on government formation.

There was speculation that the Congress may get the posts of deputy chief minister and assembly speaker in the new arrangement.

Chavan, however, maintained that power-sharing formula was not being discussed now.

"Sonia Gandhi might reject the (CMP) draft. (So) Where is the question of discussing power sharing now," he said.

State Congress leaders were meeting at Chavan's office here on Wednesday evening, and they will meet the five-member panel set up by the NCP to discuss the CMP, he said.

Earlier, speaking to a news channel, Chavan said his party was on alert to prevent a possible "Operation lotus" -- attempts by the BJP to engineer defections from other parties.

He was referring to BJP leader Narayan Rane's statement on Tuesday that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had asked Rane to start work on forming a BJP-led government in the state.