Sharad Pawar arrives in Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi on Maharashtra govt formation

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar arrived in Delhi today to hold a meeting with Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the prospects of government formation in Maharashtra.

"There is a meeting today," said Pawar when asked about his meeting with Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier in the day, NCP leader Nawab Malik had stated that the two leaders will meet 4 pm and things will speed up towards the formation of a government in Maharashtra the meeting.

After the Sharad-Sonia meeting, leaders of Congress and NCP will sit down together on Tuesday to discuss the government formation in the state, Malik had said.

The NCP held a core committee meeting at party chief Sharad Pawar's residence in Pune on Sunday. Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil and Legislative Party leader Ajit Pawar were among the prominent leaders present at the meeting.

"The core committee arrived at the conclusion that President's Rule should end in Maharashtra and an alternate government should be formed at the earliest," Malik had said.

Maharashtra came under President's Rule earlier this week after all the parties failed to form a government in the state.

BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP only to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by Governor BS Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which the President's Rule was imposed in the state on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena is now in parleys with the Congress and NCP to form a government in the state.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.

-ANI

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