New Delhi, Thursday 05 ,November 2009: The NCP has “broadly agreed” with its ally the Congress, on power sharing in Maharashtra and a new government would be in place in the state shortly, party leader Praful Patel, said.

“We have broadly agreed on most of the issues,” the NCP General Secretary told reporters last night.

The top NCP leadership held a meeting with party chief Sharad Pawar, here last evening which was attended by Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, R.R. Patil and Jayant Patil.

Patel said that he had conveyed the NCP stand to the Congress which is likely to be discussed with Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who is also incharge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra.“I am confident that all the issues with the Congress would be sorted out,” Patel said.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources said that 20 ministers each of the NCP and Congress are expected to take oath along with Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Bhujbal. The Maharashtra election results were declared on October 22 in which the Congress-NCP combine was voted back to power for a third consecutive term.