Thackeray speaks to Sonia Gandhi on Maha govt formation

Mumbai, Nov 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray has spoken to Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi on the phone and met senior leader Ahmed Patel in Mumbai to discuss the finer aspects of state government formation, party sources said here on Wednesday.

The phone call between Thackeray and Sonia Gandhi happened late on Tuesday night.

This was followed by a round of talks between Thackeray and senior Congress leaders, including state President Balasaheb Thorat, former state party chief Manikrao Thakre and former chief minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday.

Sena had made the first formal approach to the Congress when Thackeray called up Sonia Gandhi to solicit her support for forming a government as it (Sena) was the second largest party.

A bit wary, the Congress-NCP combine has adopted a cautious approach by not jumping at the Sena's proposal, but decided to discuss its ramifications among themselves.

An anxious Sena, which was hoping for letters of support from both, was disappointed when the communication did not come before the expected time on Monday evening.

A delegation comprising Aditya Thackeray, which waited for the support letters at Raj Bhavan, sought two more days from Governor B. S. Koshyari, which was refused. The Shiv Sena leaders returned after staking their claim to form the government, but without being able to prove the support from the Congress and the NCP.

The Congress-NCP have announced that they will first discuss the proposed alliance with the Sena in detail and then talk with the saffron party on the possibility of forming a government with a Common Minimum Programme.

Source: IANS