Mumbai: After hectic consultations over several hours, the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena have finalised the draft of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which will form the basis of their new alliance in Maharashtra.
Sources told ThePrint that the joint CMP is likely to feature issues like a farm loan waiver, review of the crop insurance scheme, unemployment, increasing minimum support prices, and construction of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue and a memorial to Dr B.R. Ambedkar, among other things.
This CMP will now be sent to all three parties’ presidents — NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Congress’ interim chief Sonia Gandhi and Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray — for a final stamp of approval.
Also read: Collapse of Shiv Sena’s alliance with BJP threatens its control over cash-rich BMC
Ideology issue also discussed
The three-party coordination committee meeting was attended by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai, Congress’ Manikrao Thakre, Prithviraj Chauhan and Vijay Wadettiwar, and NCP leaders Nawab Malik, Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal.
“The draft is in final stage of completion. We want the government to be formed as soon as possible, as farmers are facing a lot of problems,” said Wadettiwar.
Importantly, Wadettiwar added that the parties also had a discussion about their different ideologies, but haven’t yet discussed a power-sharing formula. But he said the Congress was not in the race for the CM’s chair, leaving that to the NCP and Shiv Sena to figure out.
Earlier, Pawar had directed the NCP to ensure fast-paced discussions. Since the formation of the committees from all three sides Wednesday, discussions have been on to clear the way for government formation. Pawar himself is in the Vidarbha region to take stock of the agrarian distress, and is likely to meet Gandhi around the winter session of Parliament, which begins on 18 November.
Shiv Sena sources have also indicated that top leaders could be headed to Delhi soon to pay Gandhi a visit.
Also read: Sena-Congress ‘friendship’ goes back 50 yrs — a story of helping each other grow in Mumbai
You are wrong,4 bulls can chase a lion,bundled wooden sticks are hard to break,unity is their strength.every move is to fight up,delhi in same formula, bjp to introspect given gdp figure,and deficit, performance and 2020 budget, a time to introspect.. parl election honey moon period and jet lock pl come out. Recession,unemployment,inflation are three stumps which can break the winning game in politics.economics and economy,plans do matter in running a democracy, peddaling is not cycling.
A seminal moment in Indian politics. It required three former CMs to convince the party President that an alliance with the Shiv Sena was imperative. Partly because that is what the famished for fishes and loaves MLAs desired, but also to keep the party relevant nationally. Squeezing every drop of political space away from the Opposition comes at a price.
These were not the points which made Shiv Sena pull out of its alliance with BJP. The main issue was that who will occupy the chief minister chair. If Sena does not get it then all talks are pointless.
Yummy freebies subsidies reservation loan waivers on the way.