Amid political logjam in Maharashtra and parties still not clearing the air on government formation in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, during afternoon in Parliament to discuss issues related to farmers’ crisis in the state.

Pawar will meet Modi in Parliament at 12.30 pm to discuss several issues related to the state, especially the agrarian crisis following unprecedented rainfall, according to NCP leaders.

The significance of the meeting increases as the NCP holds the key for government formation in Maharashtra, so is being wooed by both Shiv Sena and BJP. The meeting of the two leaders comes two days after Modi praised the Sharad Pawar-led party during his speech in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Modi, speaking on the occasion of 250th Session of Rajya Sabha, said other parties, including the BJP, should learn from the NCP and Biju Janata Dal of Naveen Patnaik how to adhere to parliamentary norms.

The praise for the Pawar-led party comes at a time when the NCP and Congress are trying to keep the BJP away from power in Maharashtra, where the President’s rule was imposed on November 12.

The Sena and the BJP fought the state polls together and emerged with 161 seats in the 288-member house but fell out after a bitter dispute over allocation of portfolios and sharing of the Chief Minister’s post. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray then approached the opposition – the NCP and the Congress – to form an unlikely alliance and stake claim to form the government, something the BJP declined to do when approached by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, citing its lack of a majority.

The Congress and NCP won 44 and 54 seats, respectively, in the last month’s polls.

President’s rule was imposed in the state last Tuesday, after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari sent a report to the Centre, stating that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts.
With the picture still not clear, but talks are on between the Sena, Congress and NCP to form a government in Maharashtra. And now BJP too has pursuing the NCP.

Leaving the situation in Maharashtra on government formation in uncertainty, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Pawar met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday and later said more discussions would be held before a final word on getting together with Shiv Sena.

Pawar was speaking to reporters after having about 45-minute long meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “We have to sort out some more issues,” Pawar told.

His response to the question about the meeting left many wondering. Asked about the Shiv Sena saying it was in talks with Congress-NCP to form the government, he said, ‘Really?’

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in a tweet said that the Congress and NCP representatives will meet again in a day or two.

While, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said: “It needs 100 births” to understand what Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar says.

The Sena MP was replying to a question on the NCP chief’s virtual about-turn on the question of Maharashtra government formation by three parties — Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP — on Monday at a media briefing at his residence in the national capital.

“You don’t worry about Pawar and our alliance. Very soon, by early-December, a Shiv Sena-led alliance government will be in power in Maharashtra. It will be a stable government,” Raut said.