New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Tuesday said his party will "definitely" be part of the Congress-led ministry in Maharashtra, but asserted that the NCP will stick to the 1999 berth-sharing formula.
"We will definitely be joining the government (in Maharashtra)," Patel, also the Union Civil Aviation Minister, told reporters.
The assurance came hours after NCP leader and deputy chief minister -designate Chhagan Bhujbal said that if the Congress did not agree to the power-sharing formula decided in 1999, the NCP would offer it "outside support" instead of joining the ministry.
Patel said the "NCP won't deviate from the 1999 portfolios' formula", according to which major ministries like home, power and finance were with the NCP.
The two parties--the Congress with 82 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 62 seats in the 288-member assembly--are locked in a bitter squabble over allocation of portfolios, causing a delay in the forming of the new government.
Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir on Tuesday separately met Congress and NCP leaders, but the parties stuck to their positions on power-sharing.
Last week, NCP leader Ajit Pawar had said that in the 2004 elections, even though NCP had 71 seats compared to 59 of Congress, it agreed to accept the post of deputy chief minister and give the chief minister's post to the latter.
"At that time, to keep the CM's (chief minister) post, the Congress offered us (NCP) four extra ministries and three departments," he pointed out.
Sensing a kill, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena combine have given an ultimatum for the government formation by Tuesday, failing which they would demand imposition of President's Rule in the state.
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