Maharashtra Power Tussle: No talks With Sonia Gandhi On Shiv Sena, Says Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath. Both the leader discussed in detail about Maharashtra's political situation but there were no talks about Shiv Sena and government in the state. Senior Congress leader AK Antony was also present in the meeting.

When asked about if Sonia Gandhi is opposed to forming government in alliance with Shiv Sena, Pawar said there was no such talks. “There was no talk of government formation in our meeting, this meeting was all about discussing Congress and NCP,” he said.

Sharad Pawar on if Sonia Gandhi is opposed to forming Govt in alliance with Shiv Sena: There was no talk of Govt formation in our meeting, this meeting was all about discussing Congress and NCP. https://t.co/26TnM7lhRf pic.twitter.com/rghFDkuc6A

— ANI (@ANI) November 18, 2019

When asked to comment on Shiv Sena's claim of having the support of 170 MLAs. Pawar said 'I don't know about this 170 figure. You should have asked them.'

It was also decided that in a day or two, representatives from NCP and Congress will meet in Delhi to discuss the way forward.

The NCP is in talks with its ally Congress for a possible alliance with the Shiv Sena, after the Sena's alliance with the BJP fell apart over the chief minister's post.

Ahead of his meeting with Gandhi, Pawar said all political parties seeking to stake a claim in forming the government in Maharashtra have to "choose their own paths".

"BJP-Shiv Sena fought together, we (NCP) and Congress fought together. They have to choose their path and we will do our politics," Pawar told reporters ahead of the start of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Maharashtra was placed under President's rule on November 12 after no party or alliance staked claim to form a government.

Pawar's meeting with the Congress chief comes a day after the NCP's core committee held a meeting in Pune and resolved that the current President's rule in Maharashtra should end and an "alternative government" should be formed.

The BJP-Sena saffron alliance had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly. The Congress and NCP, pre-poll allies, won 44 and 54 seats respectively.