All eyes on Maharashtra as Sonia Gandhi set to meet Sharad Pawar

Mumbai : Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar are all set to meet on Monday to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government with ideologically opposite Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Currently, the state has been put under the President's rule after all the major seat winners failed to prove majority in the house.

Sharad Pawar had claimed on Saturday that he is sure of forming a government in the state and it will last for five years too. 

NCP's senior leaders on Sunday met in Mumbai and discussed government formation.

"We had had a discussion over the current political situation in the state, and we have come to the conclusion that the President's rule should end and an alternative government should be formed," NCP leader Nawab Malik was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

"Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi will meet on Monday and discuss the possibility of the formation of an alternative government in Maharashtra," he added.

Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party had indulged in a rift over power-sharing of the Chief Minister post in Maharashtra. Post that, BJP chose to part its ways from Shiv Sena who was adamant on the 50:50 power-sharing formula on the CM seat.