Sanjay Raut expresses 'rays of hope' as Sena-NCP-Congress finalise CMP in Maharashtra

With the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) between Congress-NCP-Sena finalised, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, on Friday expressed his hope for the newly stitched alliance. He tweeted that being the agents (of the lord), no one could threaten them as rays of hope emerged from all sides. The final draft of the 40-point CMP has been submitted to the party chiefs who will take the final call on it.

'Rays of hope emerge': Raut

READ | Day 1: Cong-NCP-Sena close to finalising CMP, high-command signoff pending

CMP finalised

Earlier on Thursday, the final draft of CMP was prepared in the joint meeting of the leaders from the three parties.  Congress' Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thakre and Vijay Wadettiwar, Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai and NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal, Nawab Malik and Jayant Patil met in Mumbai to decide the portfolios split, target issues. etc. Party chiefs Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray are all set to discuss during the weekend and release the final blueprint early next week - November 19. The CM is most likely to be from Shiv Sena, reveal NCP.

Read: Now, Sanjay Raut Says 'Shiv Sena Respects Modi More Than BJP'

Sena quits NDA

Meanwhile, Sena and BJP's Maharashtra battle reached a national level as Sena's 18 Lok Sabha MPs too decided on Thursday to boycott the all MPs meeting on November 17 prior to the Winter session of the Parliament. After Sena's sole Union minister Arvind Sawant's resignation from the Modi cabinet, this indicates at a larger split between the ideologically similar parties at the Centre. On the other hand, Former CM Devendra Fadnavis has stated that 'Three parties can not run a government. There is no alternative to BJP government.'

READ | Mamata Banerjee wades into Maharashtra deadlock; fires 2-pronged attack

President's rule in Maharashtra

President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was satisfied that none of the parties - Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress, and NCP could not form a stable government. Sena which initially challenged the move in the Supreme Court has put a hold on its plea, as the three parties try to stitch an alliance to form the next government. The Mahayuti alliance fell out with the  Sena insisting an equal sharing of CM post for 2.5 years and portfolios, while BJP refused to these demands. While BJP refused to stake claim, Sena and NCP failed to cobble up support before their deadlines, after the governor invited them to stake claim, triggering President's rule on Tuesday after the Centre and President's go ahead.

READ | President's rule imposed in Maharashtra; House in suspended animation

Current Maha Assembly numbers

The saffron alliance swept Maharashtra on October 24, winning a combined tally of 161 (BJP- 105, Sena -56), but is yet to put its majority to use. Meanwhile, the 'Maha- Agadhi' alliance (NCP-54, Congress-44) bagged 98 seats in total. The halfway mark is 145.