Sharad Pawar, accompanied by Uddhav Thackeray, is likely to meet Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday or Wednesday to finalise the Common Minimum Program (CMP) among the three parties.
Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet Congress emissaries - Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal - named by Sonia Gandhi on Monday in New Delhi. The three leaders will sit with Pawar to fine-tune the power-sharing agreement and the CMP between the three parties before the final deal is put to Sonia Gandhi, said sources.
The power-sharing agreement is in the final stage, said a source. A senior leader from Maharashtra said, "We are not in a hurry as these types of alliances take time to formulate as the ideology was a major hiccup which is being resolved".
Shiv Sena in opposition
Meanwhile, in a major political development, the Shiv Sena will be sitting with Opposition in both houses of the Parliament, beginning from Monday, with the opposition getting a major boost ahead of the winter session.
The Shiv Sena has 18 MPs in Lok Sabha, while it has three MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
Sources said Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will no longer occupy seats behind the treasury benches in Rajya Sabha in accordance with standard parliamentary procedures. Sources said the new seats have been allotted to them with Opposition MPs.
(With inputs from IANS.)
