Maharashtra Poll: Congress prepared fight polls alone, not frantic to save alliance with NCP

NEW DELHI: Unlike in the past, the Congress leadership is not making frantic efforts to save its Maharashtra alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. The Congress assessment shows the 15-year-old Congress-NCP alliance may have run its course and another joint electoral outing may not fetch over 70 seats in view of the accumulated incumbency burden.

Further, as the Congress thinks Pawar's final decision on the alliance will mainly be dictated by the future of the BJP-Sena front, the AICC, too, has decided to wait for events in the saffron camp to play out first, leaving CM Prithviraj Chavan and PCC chief Manikrao Thackeray to keep the formalities of "keeping NCP leaders engaged" in Mumbai "We are optimistic of our alliance (with NCP) continuing.

At the same time, we are also fully prepared to fighting on our own," said AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi at a press conference. The AICC screening committee and the party's central election committee held meetings on Monday where the prons and cons of contesting with and without an alliance with NCP were discussed and an outline of two candidates lists for respective scenarios were also discussed. "Only a last-minute BJP-Sena patch-up will close NCP options, prompting them to start negotiations with us," said a senior Congress leader.

The AICC's decision not to yield to the NCP demand for 144 seats is mainly for two reason: The Congress thinks if NCP mangers to increase its MLA tally, it could only bolster its potential for post-poll bargaining with the BJP. Secondly, with Congress-NCP alliance projected to lose, the Congress thinks the NCP is keen to establish postpoll arrangement with the BJP.