Congress calls urgent meeting after BJP-NCP form govt in Maharashtra

The Congress on Saturday called an urgent meeting at the party office in Mumbai in the wake of the government formation by BJP and NCP in Maharashtra.

Senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal will be present in the meeting.

BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the second consecutive term while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state earlier today.

The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.

(ANI)

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