Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena Finalise 'Common Minimum Programme' For Government Formation

The Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena have finalised the draft of thier 'common minimum program' for forming a government in Maharashtra, Sena leader Eknath Shinde said Friday in a joint press conference with NCP and Congress in Mumbai. Shinde said that the final decision on the draft will be taken by the top leadership of the respective parties. "Draft of the 'Common Minimum Program' has been decided. Top leaders of the three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) will make final decision on it," Shinde said.

The draft has been finalised after several consultation over last two days. According to sources, unemployment, farm loan waiver, increasing MSP, crop insurance scheme, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and BR Ambedkar memorial are some of the things that featured in the ‘common minimum program’ of these three parties.

This draft will now be sent to the senior party officials of all the three parties for a final stamp of approval. “Leaders of the allies Congress-NCP and the Shiv Sena held several parleys to work out a consensus on a common agenda of governance which will be called the CMP,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut tweeted that they would neither get defeated nor afraid. "Ab haarna aur darna manaa hai..," the Raut Tweeted. The Rajya Sabha member’s remark comes a day after he was discharged from the city-based Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent an angioplasty procedure on Monday.

The 57-year-old firebrand Sena leader also tweeted a motivational Hindi couplet, saying, "Haar ho jaati hai jab maan liya jaata hai, jeet tab hoti hai jab thaan liya jaata hai" (defeat happens when one accepts it, victory happens when one is determined).

After the Assembly poll results in Maharashtra were declared on October 24, Raut led the Sena's charge to seek equal share in power with the BJP, leading to falling apart of the nearly three-decade-old saffron alliance.

Earlier, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said talks for government formation in the state were at a ‘preliminary’ stage and no decision was taken so far. The Congress and NCP on Wednesday deliberated at their respective party levels and later jointly to work out a CMP and power-sharing formula, the former state chief minister said.

“The Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena have so far held preliminary talks. A meeting will again be held today between the Congress and NCP, and later both the parties are expected to hold talks with the Shiv Sena. There is no decision as yet,” Chavan told PTI.

President’s rule was imposed in the state on Tuesday after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari sent a report to the Centre, stating that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts.

The BJP and Shiv Sena, which fought the October 21 state elections in alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly.

But the BJP did not cede the Sena’s demand of sharing the chief minister’s post, leading to falling apart of the nearly three-decade-old alliance. The Congress and NCP won 44 and 54 seats, respectively, in the last month’s polls.

With PTI Inputs