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Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray leaves after a meeting with Congress and NCP leaders, at Nehru Centre in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI)[/caption]
Mumbai, Nov. 22 (PTI): The new government in Maharashtra will be led by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP president Sharad Pawar said on Friday, signalling end of speculation on who will occupy the chief minister's post as efforts to install a non-BJP dispensation in the state gathered pace.
Emerging from a marathon meeting of top leaders of the Congress, the NCP and the Sena, who are making efforts to form government in Maharashtra, Pawar said there was a consensus on Thackeray's leadership.
"The issue of leadership is not pending. There are no two opinions on the issue of chief ministership. There was a consensus on Uddhav Thackeray leading the new government," he told reporters after the meeting.
When asked if Thackeray, who is not yet a legislator, will be the new chief minister, Pawar shot back, "Don't you understand Hindi. The new government will be led by Uddhav Thackeray."
Asked about Pawar's statement on Thackeray's leadership, Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, who attended the meeting, separately told reporters there was "no discussion on that issue".
Shinde, who was elected as the leader of the Sena's legislative wing last month, is seen as one of the contenders for the chief minister's post.
Pawar said the meeting at Nehru Centre at Worli deliberated extensively on agenda for governance for the prospective dispensation.
"There will be a press conference tomorrow after everything is finalised," said the former Union minister, who is at the centre of government formation talks in Maharashtra, where assembly poll results were announced nearly a month ago.
Thackeray, who emerged from the meeting soon after Pawar, said the talks were held in satisfactory manner.
"The talks (on government formation) are progressing in the right direction. Nitty gritties are being discussed now. All the three parties will come before you and all details will be shared after finalisation," he said.
Shinde, Subhash Desai, Sanjay Raut (all Shiv Sena), Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, K C Venugopal, Avinash Pande, Balasaheb Thorat, Prithviraj Chavan (Congress), Praful Patel, Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar (NCP) took part in the meeting.
The state has been facing a political crisis after the Sena broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post.
The BJP and the Sena, which fought the Assembly polls in alliance, had secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly.
The NCP and the Congress, pre-poll allies, won 54 and 44 seats, respectively.
The combined tally of the Sena, the NCP and the Congress is way beyond the majority mark of 145.
The state is currently under President's rule.
A fresh PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking to restrain the Maharashtra Governor from inviting political parties Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress to form the government "against the people's mandate" and to declare such formation as "unconstitutional".
Terming the alliance as "unholy", the plea filed by Maharashtra resident Surendra Indrabahadur Singh said that if a coalition of Shiv Sena with the political parties against which it contested is allowed, it would be against constitutional ethos and will result in dilution of public mandate.
"The present petition seeks to stop the unholy alliance between three political parties which have all fought against each other but is trying to form government by joining hands thereby cheating the electoral mandate," the plea said.
This is the second petition filed against the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance. The first petition in this regard was filed by one Pramod Pandit Joshi seeking declaration of the coalition as "fraud" on the electorate for gaining power.
The fresh PIL said the Governor is under constitutional obligation to consider concept of popular government but the post poll alliance between Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress is based on power sharing concept between parties which have been voted out by people.
The plea alleged that the change in the stand of Shiv Sena, which had fought the Assembly polls along with BJP, was "nothing but betrayal of people trust reposed in the NDA".
It said that the Maharashtra electorate cast votes keeping in mind the pre-poll alliance of Shiv Sena and BJP; however the new coalition would be against the constitutional right of voters and vitiate entire electoral system.
"Shiv Sena is trading with NCP and INC to stake claim to form government in Maharashtra. Such act, if done, will amount to playing fraud on the voters who have voted for Shiv Sena believing them that its going for alliance with Bhartiya Janta Party and vice versa. Such Votes which are cast under misrepresentation and fraud, vitiates the vote cast by me and people alike and infact vitiates the entire democratic electoral system," the plea alleged.
"The voters of BJP and Shiv Sena had casted their vote either to BJP or Shiv Sena on the belief that the Mandate is being made in favour of the Mahayuti. Similarly people voted for either NCP or INC on the belief that it is being made in favour of Maha aghadi... However, due to some differences between Mahayuti partners, they have not claimed to form government which is an insult to mandate given by people. In fact the mandate was being put in trade by formation of the new government in Maharashtra," it further said.
