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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Mumbai, Oct 7: With a fractured mandate giving Maharashtra a hung assembly, serious efforts are under way by the two major groups to cobble together 144 or more seats required to form the government. While the Shiv Sena-BJP with its tally of 126 is fishing for support from Independents and others to stake its claim to power, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party appear ready to sink their differences if they can have a chance at power.
The Sena-BJP scented power in a late evening surge that took its tally to 126 with leads in three other constituencies. Otherwise, for most part of the day, it looked like the alliance would notch up just about 120 seats. With the prospect of getting 129 seats, which is just 16 short of a simple majority, the alliance -- particularly the Sena -- decided to go for it while the Congress and the NCP resolved, independently, to take legal and political steps to slug it out.
``Initially, we were in two minds on forming the government, since we were not sure of the numbers.Now it should not be difficult for us with the help of 14 Independents (most of whom were elected with our support) and one-legislator parties,'' Chief Minister Narayan Rane said.
On their own, the Congress with 76 and NCP with 56 seats will have to be content with sharing Opposition space. Together, and with support of allies, they stand a chance of sharing power. Senior Congress leaders approached the high command for the green signal to begin dialogue tonight even as Sushil Kumar Shinde, former minister and present AICC general secretary, camped in the city. NCP leaders too talked of joining forces if it helped to keep the Sena-BJP coalition out; legislators are meeting tomorrow with Sharad Pawar likely to be present at the meeting.
Though Suresh Kalmadi, Congress campaign-in-chief, maintained the line that the party will have no truck with the NCP, PCC president Prataprao Bhosale spoke a different line. Messages went out that Congressmen should not publicly condemn Pawar's moves of this April-May thatled to his expulsion from the party and subsequent formation of the NCP. ``We can stake our claim to form the government but how it's possible is not something I can reveal right now,'' said Bhosale.
Rane said Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has convened a meeting of the Shiv Sena legislature party on Saturday at Sena Bhavan to elect their leader. ``Immediately after the meeting, we will communicate our decision to the Governor to form the government,'' the Chief Minister said.
When the possibility inviting the Congress to form the government was brought to Rane's notice, he said: ``Though we are separate parties, since we had a pre-poll agreement, we will be treated as a single party as recommended by the Sarkaria Commission.''
On the other hand, both NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and MPCC president Prataprao Bhosale said they would ensure that the Sena-BJP did not come to power. ``By and large, the feeling among the NCP legislators is that they should reach an agreement with the Congress to form thegovernment,'' Bhujbal said, but things were stuck at the stage of who will proposition whom.
``If the Congress is keen, it should move the proposal. On our own, we are not very keen on initiating dialogue for the purpose. At the same time, we expect that the Congress will not take any steps to split the NCP, since that will be disastrous for both the NCP as well as Congress,'' he warned.
Bhosale felt that since the Congress was the single largest party, legally it was binding on the Governor to invite it to form the government. ``We will meet in a day or two, to decide the course of action on formation of government,'' Bhosale added.
On the alliance with the NCP, Bhosale said since it was a major political decision, he will have to consult the party high command. ``If we reach an agreement, then we have a clear majority to form the government.''
According to a senior NCP leader, AICC general secretary Sushilkumar Shinde has taken the lead in uniting the Congress and NCP. ``Shinde is one of thecontenders for the Chief Minister's post,'' one NCP leader added.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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