As the meetings between the Shiv Sena , Congress and NCP continue to come up with a power sharing formula for government formation in Maharashtra, a consensus has emerged on Sena President Uddhav Thackeray’s name for the post of Chief Minister, according to reports.

While the Sena legislators met this morning and “unanimously authorized” Thackeray to take any decision on the question of CM.

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According to Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik from Thane, “In the meeting, it was decided that all MLAs will stay in Mumbai till the government formation. The MLAs said that they want Uddhav Thackeray to be the Chief Minister. However, the final decision will be taken by the Sena chief.”

“All the legislators have unanimously given full powers to Uddhav Thackeray to take any decision pertaining to the post of CM and the other government formation aspects,” Sena leader Sunil Prabhu told mediapersons.

After the meeting between allies, Congress leader Manikrao Thakre on Friday said that it is almost final that next Maharashtra Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena.

Speaking to media persons, Thakre said, “It is almost final that the next Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena. NCP never demanded the position of Chief Minister.”

Similarly, after a meeting of the Congress-NCP with allies, a similar statement was made by Samajwadi Party President Abu Asim Azmi on the same question. “Most leaders felt that Uddhav Thackeray should be the CM.

However, we have left that decision to him and his party,” Azmi told reporters.

The three soon to be allies, Sena, NCP and Congress leaders are scheduled to meet again at around 4 pm which would be decisive on the question of government formation.

Sources told news agency IANS that if all goes well, they could stake their claim to form the government before Governor BS Koshyari even today, though the final call will be taken at the evening meeting.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the post of CM will be decided “very soon” and dismissed speculation in a section of media that his name too is cropping up for the CM’s post.

Raut also confirmed that it is the “genuine desire of all party legislators” that Thackeray should assume the post of CM, indirectly ruling out the possibility of any other contenders.

Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and others arrived in Mumbai this afternoon and are likely to attend the meeting between the Sena, Congress and NCP at 4 pm where a common minimum programme to accommodate the different ideologies and agendas of the three different parties will be formalized.

Earlier on Thursday, NCP President Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar met for more than an hour with Thackeray, his son Aditya and Raut.

After the meeting from which they emerged around 12.30 am today, the Thackerays were seen smiling and Raut gave the ‘thumbs up’ sign to the media indicating all was proceeding as planned for the proposed “Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra development front)” government.