New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel Tuesday said his party will “definitely” be part of the next government in Maharashtra and said all power sharing issues with the Congress would be solved “in a day or two”.
“We will definitely be joining the government (in Maharashtra),” Patel, who is the union civil aviation minister, told reporters here.

Admitting that both sides could not reach a “definite formula” on the government formation, he 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 assurance came hours after NCP leader and deputy chief minister-designate Chhagan Bhujbal said in Mumbai 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, “All issues would be solved in high-level talks amicably and to the satisfaction of all in a day or two.”

The NCP leader also said “there is no constitutional issue at the moment” in the state.

This is not the first time that the talks between the two alliance partners over portfolio allocation went “beyond the stipulated time”, Patel added.

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 formation of the new government.

The issue apparently caused some concern to Governor S.C. Jamir, who Tuesday advised the Congress and the NCP to form the ministry “without delay”.

The results of the assembly polls came Oct 22.