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Congress agrees to NCP's power-sharing formula

The Congress tonight finally conceded the Nationalist Congress Party's demand to adopt the power-sharing formula of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, paving the way for the formation of a coalition of the two parties in Maharashtra.

Announcing this to reporters in Bombay late tonight after a meeting of top Congress politicians involved in the negotiations, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratap Bhosale said he hoped the political instability in the state would end now and the two parties would form the government.

According to the formula now agreed on, the posts of chief minister and all the portfolios held by the Shiv Sena and the post of speaker of the state assembly will go to the Congress, while the post of deputy chief minister and all the portfolios held by the BJP will be given to the NCP.

The Congress decision to concede the NCP demand came barely 12 hours before Bhosale and Congress Legislature Party leader Vilas Deshmukh were to meet Governor P C Alexander.

Alexander has invited both the Congress and the Sena-BJP alliance separately tomorrow to explore the possibility of forming a government in the state, as no party has been able to secure a majority in the assembly.

UNI

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