New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) As the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party leaders meet here Wednesday to finalise portfolios’ allocation in Maharashtra, NCP general secretary P.A. Sangma said the party will not concede portfolios like home, finance, power and public works it held in the previous government.
The Congress-NCP combine held on to power for the third time in the state when results were announced Oct 22. But the NCP (62) returned with lesser numbers than the Congress (82).

Sangma said that the NCP is willing to work with the Congress on the basis of 1999 formula, when the combine first came to power.

According to portfolio-sharing formula agreed then, the Congress was given the chief minister’s post while the NCP held the post of the deputy chief minister and some key portfolios including home, finance, power and public works.

The point of discussion would be on “number of ministers”, as the NCP has lesser number of lawmakers this time than the Congress, Sangma told reporters here.

Expressing confidence that all issues would be resolved through discussions at the highest level, Sangma said: “We are going to rule Maharashtra for the next five years.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has authorised union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to hold talks with senior Congress leaders, Sangma said.

He said NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who has been chosen for the deputy chief minister’s post in Maharashtra, wanted to play a role in the national politics.

“Bhujbal had said he had spent over 30 years in state politics and wanted to move to national politics,” Sangma said.

“The party would think of a new deputy chief minister whenever he is shifted to the national politics,” he said.

Asked about the reports that the post of deputy chief minister would be rotated among NCP leaders, Sangma said Pawar had said there would be no such thing.