NCP will 'definitely' join Maharashtra ministry: Patel

New Delhi, Nov 3 : Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel Tuesday said his party will "definitely" be part of the Congress-led ministry in Maharashtra, but asserted that the NCP will stick to the 1999 berth-sharing formula.

"We will definitely be joining the government (in Maharashtra)," Patel, also the civil aviation minister in the central government, told reporters.

The assurance came hours after NCP leader and deputy chief minister -designate Chhagan Bhujbal said that if the Congress did not agree to the power-sharing formula decided in 1999, the NCP would offer it "outside support" instead of joining the ministry.

Patel said the "NCP won't deviate from the 1999 portfolios' formula", according to which major ministries like home, power and finance were with the NCP.

The two parties - the Congress with 82 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 62 seats in the 288-member assembly - are locked in a bitter squabble over allocation of portfolios, causing a delay in the forming of the new government.