Maha: Congress ministers Thorat, Chavan meet CM Thackeray amid political crisis

Amid the political crisis in Maharashtra's ruling alliance triggered by Shiv Sena strongman Eknath Shinde's rebellion, leaders of MVA constituents Congress and the NCP met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray here on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation.

Cabinet ministers Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan of the Congress met Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, at his official residence 'Varsha' in south Mumbai, where state NCP president and minister Jayant Patil was also present.

All eyes are on NCP president Sharad Pawar, the chief architect of the Shiv Sena-led ruling coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) who is likely to arrive in Mumbai soon from New Delhi, where earlier in the day he convened a crucial meeting of opposition parties to decide on a common candidate for the next month's presidential polls.

At the meeting, several major opposition parties, including the Congress, the NCP and the TMC, picked former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as their presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, AICC secretary in-charge of Maharashra H K Patil held one on one talks with each of the 44 party MLAs.

A Congress leader said Patil discussed the prevailing political situation in the state with the MLAs.

The Congress, a key constituent of the MVA, suffered a shock defeat when its candidate Chandrakant Handore lost the state Legislative Council polls on Monday. The opposition BJP got its fifth candidate elected to the Upper House of the state legislature despite lacking in numbers in the Assembly.

Senior party leader Naseem Khan said Handore was given a quota of 29 votes, while the same was 15 for Bhai Jagtap, the Congress nominee who emerged victorious.

Still Handore was defeated, while Jagtap scrapped through, he said.

Shinde, a Cabinet minister holding the urban development portfolio, rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership and landed in a Surat hotel with a bunch of party MLAs on Tuesday, plunging the two-and-a-half-year old MVA government into a crisis. PTI MR RSY RSY

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