Vibha Sharma
Tribune News ServiceNew Delhi, November 5
Differences over power sharing between the Congress and the NCP have finally been sorted out. The two parties will meet Maharashtra Governor SC Jamir tomorrow to stake claim, while the swearing-in ceremony of the new government is expected to take place on Saturday.
The announcements came separately from the Congress in Delhi and the NCP in Mumbai. After a long round of intra-party talks today with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath, senior Congress leader AK Antony said the party’s negotiations with ally NCP on the government formation in Maharashtra were over and all issues, including portfolios had been settled. Antony, also in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra, however, declined to give details of the agreement between the two sides. All he said was that details would be announced tomorrow, giving rise to speculations that some last minute inter-party talks were possible to settle remaining glitches.
Asked when the swearing-in of the new government would take place, Antony said “ask the Chief Minister”, pointing towards Ashok Chavan, who was standing beside him. However, top Congress sources indicated that the swearing-in was likely to take place on Saturday. Senior NCP leader Praful Patel in Mumbai later confirmed this.
Patel said the NCP was happy with the result of the dialogue with the Congress “It is a win-win situation for both the parties. We will handover the letter of support to Governor tomorrow and the swearing-in would take place probably on November 7,” Patel said at his Worli residence.
The sources say the Congress would get to keep 20 portfolios, while the NCP would also settle for 20 ministries. Since, the Chief Minister is from the Congress, the NCP would get to retain all major portfolios that the Congress had been demanding like finance, home, power and rural development.
