Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil among NCP members in joint panel to prepare CMP

Amidst the power tussle in Maharashtra and the uncertainty over government formation in the state, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday named its five members for a joint committee set to be constituted with Congress for deciding a common minimum programme (CMP) before their possible alliance with the Shiv Sena.

The panel will comprise NCP legislature party head Ajit Pawar, the party’s Maharashtra chief Jayant Patil, NCP veteran Chhagan Bhujbal, its Mumbai unit president Nawab Malik and Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde.

“The NCP has named the leaders to be part of the joint committee. The Congress will also name its members for the purpose,” said a leader of the Sharad Pawar-led party.

The panel is being formed after NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel met on Tuesday and expressed the need to have a CMP before working out the possibility of tying-up with the Shiv Sena.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party contested the October 21 state Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP. But the two parties fell out over the Shiv Senas demand of sharing the chief minister’s post on rotational basis.

With President’s rule imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday, the NCP and Congress are holding parleys on whether they can have a tie-up with the Shiv Sena to form an alternative government in the state.

In the last month’s polls to 288-member state Assembly, the BJP won 105 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena-56, the NCP-54 and the Congress-44.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar paid respects to late Maharashtra chief minister Vasant Patil by garlanding his photograph in the state Legislature premises here. Senior NCP leaders and party MLAs were present on the occasion.