In Maharashtra potboiler is Congress pushing for an NCP CM?

Mumbai, Nov 12: In a major twist in the Maharashtra politics, the Congress has reportedly agreed to support an alternate 'non-BJP' government, but on the condition that the CM should be from the NCP. A News 18 report based on sources says the Congress wants NCP CM with Shiv Sena support.

Shiv Sena broke alliance with the BJP over the CM post. There were no other major problems in the decades-old alliance, but for Sena's contentious '50-50' sharing of CM's post.

On Monday, for a brief while, it seemed as if the Shiv Sena would be able to install its chief minister in the state with support from NCP and the Congress. Sena was to stake a government formation claim at 2.30 pm yesterday but when it became clear that the Congress would be able to finalise its stand by 4 pm, Uddhav Thackeray's party postponed its meeting with the Governor to 5 pm.

The answer from Congress never came. Sonia Gandhi was reportedly not convinced about lending support to Sena, an essentially 'Saffron Party'.

The Congress on Monday held back its support to a possible Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra and declared in a statement shortly before Sena's deadline was to end that the Congress would need more discussions with the NCP led by Sharad Pawar.

BJP and Shiv Sena went to elections as allies, but after results were announced, the Uddav Thackeray-led party demanded '50-50' sharing of CM's post. The BJP is not willing to give up CM post. With Shiv Sena adamant on CM post for 2.5 years, and the BJP unrelenting, there is currently a deadlock.

In the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019, BJP won 105 seats in the polls while ally Shiv Sena won 56. The NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats, respectively.