NEW DELHI, 28 October 2004 — The Congress party will rule over Maharashtra state with its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) yesterday agreeing to accept the No. 2 post in the new government to be formed this week.
Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Margaret Alva and NCP leader Praful Patel announced the agreement for power sharing in the state, ending 11 days of hard bargaining.
According to the agreement reached by the two parties after marathon negotiations, the NCP will get the deputy chief minister’s post in Maharashtra, besides three additional ministerial posts, including two Cabinet berths, in the Congress-led government in New Delhi.
The Congress Legislature Party will meet in Bombay tomorrow to elect its leader, who will be the chief minister-designate, Congress leader Ahmed Patel told reporters outside party president Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 10 Janpath here.
NCP leader Praful Patel said his party legislators will also meet in the Maharashtra capital tomorrow to elect their leader, who would eventually become the deputy chief minister.
“We are happy with today’s decision. Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar spoke over phone after both parties agreed to the (power-sharing) formula,” Praful Patel said.
The NCP, which has 71 seats compared to Congress’s 68 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, was initially adamant on getting the chief minister’s post, but later demanded two posts of deputy chief minister.
But the Congress offered the NCP two key portfolios and three additional ministerial berths in the central government in lieu of the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra.
Stating that hiccups over power-sharing were common in a coalition, Ahmed Patel said the Congress-NCP alliance would provide a “stable government” for the next five years in the state. Both leaders noted that though discussions on government formation stretched to 11 days, there was “no bitterness” in their relations. “This is a very big thing for us,” Ahmed Patel remarked.
Asked what prompted the NCP to go back on both its demands — for the chief minister’s post and later for two posts of deputy chief minister, Praful Patel said: “The NCP agreed (to the Congress’s offer) in the larger interest (of the state)”.
“Our leaders had some reservation over conceding the chief minister’s post to the Congress and both parties had their separate stand on the issue. “But there is a line beyond which we didn’t want to hold out,” Praful Patel said.
