Now, NCP, Congress play hard ball with Shiv Sena

 After the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party also announced on Monday that it had not taken a final decision on extending support to the Shiv Sena for forming the government.

NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said the Congress decision in the matter is pending and will be known only after 4 p.m. on Monday, following which his party (NCP) will take the final call.

"Our President Sharad Pawar has made it clear that the NCP decision will come only after the Congress takes a call since both parties have fought the elections as an alliance," Malik said.

His statement came shortly after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said in New Delhi that the Congress Working Committee has discussed the Maharashtra situation and will now hold further discussion with state leaders before moving ahead in the matter.

Referring to the time constraints of 7.30 pm, reportedly given by Raj Bhavan to the Sena to prove its ability to form a government, Malik said there will be around three hours left to go after the Congress decision and "a lot of things can be done in three hours."

Sources in the Sena hint that most contentious issues have been ironed out by the party with the Congress-NCP and there were a few other points left which are being sorted out by the party leaders.

Giving a confidence booster to the Congress-NCP, the Sena's sole nominee in the Union cabinet, Heavy Industry Minister Arvind Sawant has resigned, while another party leader, Sanjay Raut, hinted that the party's ties with the NDA are virtually snapped, without putting it in so many words.

Officially, the Congress and NCP have both maintained that they have no public mandate and are prepared to sit in the Opposition, even as Sanjay Raut on Monday indicated that his party was on the way to forming a government with Congress-NCP support, with a common minimum programme.

Malik admitted that the Sena is in communication with the Congress-NCP, now and even earlier, on the issue of government formation.IANS