BOMBAY, 19 October 2004 — Squabbling between coalition partners Congress and the National Congress Party over who should be chief minister was yesterday delaying the formation of a government in the state of Maharashtra.

Leaders of the Congress party and its regional ally the NCP, had held a series of meetings since the results of last week’s state poll were announced on Saturday, Congress officials said. The Congress-NCP alliance won 140 of the 288 legislative seats, followed by the Hindu fundamentalist alliance of Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 120 seats. The rest went to independents and smaller parties.

The NCP claims it has the right to appoint a chief minister after it emerged as the single largest party in the state with 71 seats.

“As per the formula since 1999, the chief minister’s post should go to the single largest party which is the NCP this time and we are just asking Congress to implement the same formula,” said NCP founder Sharad Pawar, the federal agriculture minister who spearheaded the party’s victory in the poll.

Congress leaders said there was no such formula and the decision would be reached in discussions between party President Sonia Gandhi and Pawar.

Analysts said Pawar would likely agree to a compromise in exchange for a bigger portfolio in central government while retaining his control over the NCP at state level.

“Pawar may ask for a bigger portfolio like defense or even the Home Ministry at the center in exchange for (yielding) the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra,” said political analyst Kumar Ketkar.

“Also let us not forget that as an individual, Pawar would not like anyone from his party to become more powerful than he by becoming the chief minister of the state — he is just an agriculture minister at the center which is not a power-centric post.”

The elected candidates of Congress were to meet yesterday to discuss the issue. Current Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was due to head to New Delhi for talks with Sonia in a bid to resolve the impasse.

“I think Shinde would finally emerge as the chief minister, with the deputy chief minister’s post going to NCP,” added Ketkar.

Bal Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena, blamed Muslims and non-Maharashtrian voters for the Hindu alliance’s defeat. “The focused voting by Muslims and non-Maharashtrians in Bombay against the party led to our defeat in the elections,” he said.