Shiv Sena MLAs & Leaders to Meet on Friday as Govt Formation Discussions with Congress-NCP Drag on

Mumbai: Amid a cautious approach by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress over government formation in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has called a meeting of all its MLAs and senior leaders here on November 22, said a party leader on Tuesday.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will address the meeting, which is expected to deliberate on the future course of action in the backdrop of the three main non-BJP parties making efforts to form the government in Maharashtra currently under President's rule.

"Uddhav Thackeray will address the meeting of party MLAs and other senior leaders on November 22 in Mumbai,” said the Sena leader. The meeting will discuss the party's future course of action and will also see interaction with newly-elected Sena MLAs, he said.

The Sena won 56 seats in the October 21 Assembly election, but refused to form government with its pre-poll ally BJP (105 seats) after the latter turned down its demand for rotational chief ministership.

After the two saffron parties parted ways, the Sena reached out to the Congress-NCP, its political rivals till recently, to explore the possibility of forming an alternative government in the country's richest state.

However, despite several rounds of talks between leaders of the three parties in Mumbai and Delhi, possibility of a Sena-led government still remains at a nascent stage. The Sena has repeatedly said the next chief minister will be from the party.

NCP president Sharad Pawar held a meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday.

Pawar later said if the NCP-Congress have to take a view on government formation, they have to first discuss it between themselves.

The two sides have deputed leaders for holding talks on a possible alliance with the Sena, a party closely associated with Hindutva and anti-Congressism.

A meeting with the Congress scheduled in Delhi on Tuesday to further discuss the possibility of government formation in Maharashtra was called off due to pre-occupation of Congress leaders with Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary events, NCP leader Nawab Malik said, adding Congress leaders requested that the meeting be postponed to Wednesday.

In last month's polls, the NCP and the Congress won 54 and 44 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly where the majority mark is 145.