Maha results: Congress dismisses NCP's claim on govt formation in Maharashtra

New Delhi, Oct 21: Congress today described as "preposterous" the claims by the NCP that they approached them to jointly support Shiv Sena to form a government in Maharashtra.

"It is preposterous. The Congress Party has never in the past supported parties like Shiv Sena and will never support it in the future too," Congress General Secretary in-charge of the communication department Ajay Maken said in a statement.

There are parties who have never remained out of power and they may still like to be in power, but the Congress Party in the past also has bounced back after playing the role of a vigilant opposition.

"Even now we intend to play this role," Maken said.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar had yesterday claimed he was approached by a Congress leader who proposed forming a coalition government with Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena as constituents.

"A Congress leader contacted me on phone and suggested we form a government that also includes Shiv Sena...I told him together we have 146 MLAs and the government thus cobbled together will not be stable," he had said.

With BJP in the process of forming government in Maharashtra, Maken also took potshots at it, questioning whether it will ally with a "Nationalist Corrupt Party", a name given to NCP by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the campaigning. "It is for the BJP to now decide whether it will join hand with the 'Hafta Wasuli Party' or the 'Naturally Corrupt Party'.

"They also need to explain as to what has happened in two days time that has changed their hearts," Maken said.

During campaigning, Modi had described NCP as the "Nationalist Corrupt Party".

While talking about the party "which extorts money", Maken appeared to refer to Shiv Sena, with which BJP had parted ways ahead of the assembly polls.

PTI