After days of grandstanding about a seat-sharing formula, each trying to maximise its quota, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — that have been in alliance for 15 years — have finally agreed to meet in Mumbai on Tuesday to take a final decision on the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
While representatives of both parties kept their own counsel on whether they intended to contest separately or together, they sounded far more positive on Monday than they have in recent days when internal discussions have even focussed on provisional preparations to contest separately.
In Delhi, top Congress leaders gathered at party president Sonia Gandhi’s residence; in Mumbai, NCP’s Core Group met to discuss the situation, ahead of the Congress-NCP discussion in that city on Tuesday.
'Talks with NCP going on in separate track'
Saying the Congress was “not waiting for the NCP” even though “discussions are going on with them”, Mr. Chavan said: “In such talks, there are no deadlines, we are friends and we have been discussing it, which are going on at different levels.”
Meanwhile, senior NCP leader Praful Patel — after a meeting of his party’s Core Group in Mumbai — said: “After my discussion with senior Congress leaders over the phone, we decided to hold a meeting with them on Tuesday.”
Stressing that the NCP wants to contest 144 seats in the 288-member State Assembly, Mr. Patel said: “The Congress must recognise that we have been an absolute dependable partner since 1999. Our actions have never gone against the interests of the Congress.”
There was a visible softening on NCP’s part. On Sunday, NCP had given a 24-hour deadline to Congress, Mr. Patel said NCP was not giving an ultimatum to Congress, but “the Election Commission… has set a particular date that we all need to abide by. We expect that final conclusion will be reached tomorrow.”
After the Congress-NCP meeting on Tuesday, core committees of both parties will meet again in the afternoon.
Within NCP, there has been a strong view that the party should go it alone. The party has, therefore, demanded a boost from the 114 seats it contested last time. Congress sources said the party was fine with increasing NCP’s share to 124 and may be prepared to even go up to 130.
Within the Congress, party sources said, there is a sense that the NCP’s attitude will hinge on whether the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance holds or breaks.
However, both parties have officially denied any such equations. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi on Monday expressed confidence that the two parties would have an alliance. “I certainly don’t think that it will be a four-cornered contest. At best, it will be three-cornered because we are going to have an alliance,” Mr. Singhvi said.
Mr. Patel, on his part, too, said the alliance with the Congress would not depend on what happens in the BJP-Sena camp. He also tweeted: “Positive decision is expected in tomorrow’s meet with the leaders of Congress.”
