Maharashtra govt formation: NCP chief Sharad Pawar arrives in Delhi to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi

The tussle of forming the government in Maharashtra has intensified. NCP chief Sharad Pawar arrived in Delhi to hold talks with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. After the Sharad-Sonia meeting, leaders of Congress and NCP will sit down together on Tuesday to discuss the government formation in the state.

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar arrived in Delhi today (November 18) 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.

On Monday morning, NCP leader Nawab Malik had stated that the two leaders would meet at 4 pm and things would 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 (November 19) 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 concluded 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 recently 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 BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.