The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress may announce an alliance today to form a government in Maharashtra after a series of meetings in Mumbai. All three parties have decided that a Shiv Sena chief minister will have a full five-year term, the Sena's Sanjay Raut said this morning. It is not certain whether Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will agree to lead the "Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra development front)" government. Uddhav Thackeray has reportedly suggested other names. A common minimum programme that can accommodate the vastly different agendas of the Sena and the Congress will also be discussed as the three parties try to find a way of collaborating for the first time. Setting the stage for intense deliberations, Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray visited Sharad Pawar at his home in Mumbai in a meeting that stretched till midnight.
