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ShareMumbai: The government will be sworn in on Saturday but the alliance is still at loggerheads. Even as chief minister-designate Ashok Chavan and deputy chief minister-designate Chhagan Bhujbal met governor SC Jamir on Friday to stake claim to form the government in the state, confusion over portfolio division and cabinet berth allocation lingered.
What became clear, however, was that the Congress was on the backfoot with Chavan buckling under Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) pressure on all matters. On Friday, Chavan, after a meeting at party president Sonia Gandhi's residence in Delhi, had confidently said, "The Congress has 23 ministers (including CM) and the NCP will have 20 (including deputy CM)." Three hours later, after Chavan returned to Mumbai, Bhujbal, accompanied by state NCP chief RR Patil and general secretary Gurunath Kulkarni, went to meet him and asked him to roll back his statement on the division of berths.
"As per a mutual agreement, both sides were to get 20 ministers each, leaving three posts vacant for a couple of months to provide them with a face-saver. They will have to settle for Congress 22 and NCP 21," Bhujbal said.
Sensing the aggressive stand being taken by the NCP, barely 30 minutes before meeting the governor, the CM decided to buy peace. He agreed to not bring up the 23:20 formula in public again. He also accepted that the NCP would not forsake its claim on the post of speaker of the assembly.
Chavan's inability to win in negotiations with the NCP is already beginning to bother sections of the party. Highly-placed sources in the party said, "At the end, we have to concede that the NCP has gained and the Congress lost in bargaining for good portfolios as well the numbers of ministers."
Even as the differences lingered, Chavan and Bhujbal submitted a list of 170 elected members of legislature assembly (MLAs) -- Congress (82), NCP (62) and 26 members belonging to various smaller groups like Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, Swabhiman Party, Rashtriya Samaj party and Bahujan Vikas Party -- to the governor. The swearing-in ceremony will take place on Saturday at 5.30pm.
The number of ministers to be sworn in is still unclear. While the NCP has confirmed that 20 ministers will take oath, Congress sources claim they will induct 16 ministers on Saturday. The rest will be sworn in later.
"The Congress will induct the ministers in the cabinet in two phases. The NCP has decided to administer oath to all 20 ministers. But our numbers will be known tomorrow," said Chavan, while the NCP said, "Both the sides have accepted to induct 20 ministers each of the total 43. The dispute related to three ministers will be resolved later."
