Mumbai: The process of government formation in Maharashtra could take longer as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar postponed his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, which was to be held on Sunday in New Delhi.

According to sources, Mr Pawar was expected to meet Sonia at her residence to discuss the grand alliance of three parties — Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. However, the meeting has now been postponed to November 18, as Mr Pawar will attend a pa-rty meeting in Pune on Sunday.

The party chiefs will discuss the Common Minimum Program draf-ted by the leaders of the three parties on Monday. Despite the reports of the meeting being cancelled, NCP leader Nawab Malik said that Mr Pawar would hold talks with Congress leaders.

“The meeting with Sonia was never plann-ed. But Mr Pawar will go to New Delhi to meet other Congress leaders by Tuesday,” he said.

The Congress has authorised three senior leaders — Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal — to hold discussions on government formation with the NCP chief.

Interestingly, a meeting scheduled on Saturday between leaders of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress and governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to discuss the agrarian crisis in the state has also been postponed.

Senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde said, “The meeting has been postponed as all top leaders and MLAs of the three parties are on tour to visit their constituencies. They are also busy submitting the details of election expenses and affidavits.” The BJP and Shiv Sena contested the October 21 Assembly polls together and won 105 and 56 seats, respectively, securing a comfortable majority in the 288-member house. The two parties, however, fell out after the Sena persisted with its demand of sharing the chief minister’s post, which the BJP declined.

The modalities of the government formation and allocation of portfolios will also be discussed in the meeting. The modalities of the government formation and allocation of portfolios will also be discussed in the meeting.