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Congress leaders during a meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in Mumbai on Tuesday.[/caption]
Mumbai, Nov. 12 (PTI): The Congress and NCP said on Tuesday evening that they had not taken any decision about supporting the Shiv Sena to form government in Maharashtra yet, but will hold further discussions.
At a joint press conference with Congress leaders, NCP president Sharad Pawar said the two parties will discuss and evolve a consensus on what should be the policies and programmes if the Shiv Sena was to be supported.
The press conference was attended by Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Veugopal, deputed by the party president Sonia Gandhi to hold further talks with the NCP on the issue.
“We (Congress and NCP leaders) discussed the nitty gritty of a (possible) common minimum programme to ensure the government functions smoothly,” he said.
Policies and programmes of the government will have to be finalised before making a claim to form government, Pawar added.
Ahmed Patel said the Shiv Sena, which had contested the elections in alliance with the BJP, approached the Congress-NCP formally only on Monday, seeking support.
No final decision can be taken about supporting the Sena without first formulating the common minimum programme, Patel added.
He also condemned the imposition of President’s rule in Maharashtra, saying his party was not given the chance to stake claim to form government.
The Shiv Sena on Monday suffered a setback in its efforts to cobble up a non-BJP government in Maharashtra with the Congress at the last moment announcing its decision to hold more talks with ally NCP on supporting the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
On Tuesday, Governor B K Koshyari sent a report to the Centre, recommending President’s rule in the state which is facing a political impasse since the Assembly poll results of October 24; following which President’s rule was imposed in Maharashtra.
Sena moves SC against governor’s refusal to give more time, declined urgent hearing
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Maharashtra governor’s decision of not granting it three days to submit the letter of support for government formation in the state but failed to get an urgent hearing in the matter.
The petition is likely to come up before the apex court on Wednesday morning.
The lawyer representing the Shiv Sena told PTI that the apex court registry has informed that it is “not possible to constitute a bench today”.
“The Supreme Court has asked us to mention the writ petition that we filed at 10.30 AM on Wednesday before the court,” Advocate Sunil Fernandes, who filed the petition on behalf of the Shiv Sena, told PTI.
He said the fresh/second petition challenging the imposition of President’s rule in the state is being readied.
“The decision on when to file it (fresh petition) will be taken tomorrow,” he said.
The Shiv Sena has sought a direction from the apex court to quash the Governor’s decision, taken on Monday, of not giving it the opportunity to prove majority on the floor of the House.
In a petition, filed through advocate Fernandes, the party claimed it was invited to form the government on Monday and had indicated its willingness to do so on Tuesday.
The governor’s decision is unconstitutional, discriminatory, unreasonable, capricious and mala fide, the party said in the plea, adding that “the governor can’t act in a manner to only suit the majority political party” at the Centre or act on the central government’s “diktats”.
“The petitioners are constrained to move the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking urgent reliefs against the arbitrary and mala fide actions of the Maharashtra governor who in hot haste has on November 11 refused to grant even three days time to the petitioner to demonstrate that it has the requisite majority to form government in the state,” according to the plea. In the petition, the Sena contended that the governor’s decision was violative of articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
“It is ex facie arbitrary, unreasonable, capricious and mala fide exercise of power in order to ensure that Shiv Sena is precluded from getting a fair and reasonable opportunity of proving majority on the floor of the House,” it said.
The plea said the governor’s decision rejecting the claim of the Shiv Sena, which is the second largest party with 56 MLAs, to form government is “ex facie arbitrary, unconstitutional and violative of article 14”.
The Shiv Sena was invited to form the state government on November 10 and the petitioner had indicated its willingness to form the government on November 11, it said
