Congress-NCP seat-sharing talks to drag on

MUMBAI: The seat-sharing talks between Congress and NCP in Maharashtra are likely to stay suspended till the results of the assembly polls in five states are announced, according to a senior leader of the NCP. Both Congress and NCP have got into a broad agreement to fight the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra as allies, but the exact distribution of seats has not been finalised despite many rounds of talks.

A senior leader of NCP told ET that there is some dispute about one seat in Kolhapur and one in Pune district. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls Congress contested 26 Lok Sabha seats while NCP fought in 22. Sharad Pawar’s NCP did not allow its senior leader Sadashiv Mandalik to contest on party ticket in Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra.

Mandalik fought as an independent and won the election defeating NCP’s official candidate. Now Congress wants Kolhapur seat to be handed over to them. There is also some disagreement over one seat in Pune district where both parties think they have better chances to win.

Pune district has traditionally been NCP president Sharad Pawar’s home turf, but two crucial seats in this district, Maval and Shirur were won by the Shiv Sena in 2009. Congress’ Maharashtra state unit president Manikrao Thakre has been demanding 28 seats for the party and has written to the central leadership that unless the party gets 28 seats it should not work on an alliance with NCP.

When Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Pune last month, a delegation of Youth Congress leaders requested him that there should be no alliance with NCP in Maharashtra as in most constituencies, activists from both sides are bitter rivals. “The assembly results will give us an idea of how strong the anti-incumbency wave is,” an NCP leader said.