NCP assures outside support to government

On a day of fast moving developments, Maharashtra governor S C Jamir held separate meetings with caretaker chief minister Ashok Chavan and deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who assured outside support to the Chavan-led government, even as the tenure of 11th state legislative assembly ended today.

Mr Chavan and Mr Bhujbal were both summoned to Raj Bhavan here by Dr Jamir to discuss about government formation. While the meeting with Mr Chavan was held at 1130 hrs, Mr Bhujbal met Dr Jamir later along with NCP state president R R Patil. Mr Bhujbal said NCP would not take part in the ministry formation till its demands are met. He asserted that his party would support the Congress from outside till the issue of power sharing modalities were resolved.

Talking to reporters here after meeting the Governor, Mr Bhujbal said ''We have not demanded anything more from the Congress and as long as there is no unanimity on the issue of portfolios, we will support the Congress government from outside.'' Also speaking to mediapersons, Mr Patil said that he and Mr Bhujbal have informed the governor that their party would suport the Ashok Chavan led government.

''The oral statement in front of governor is as good as the written'', Mr Patil said, adding, however, that NCP would not take part in ministry formation till the power sharing issue is sorted out. He also asserted that an NCP man will be the speaker as in the last 10 years.

Maharashtra pradesh congress committee president Manikrao Thakre, however, told newsmen ''There is no question of accepting outside support from NCP as it would not be a practical move and the government should run for a complete term.'' He said the NCP needs to take stock of the ground reality before talking about staying out of the ministry formation. A joint BJP-Shiv Sena delegation will meet the governor tomorrow at 1130 hours.

-- (UNI) -- 03BY17.xml

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