Congress releases first list of candidates

Split wide open in the alliance as Congress, NCP fail to break the deadlock

September 25, 2014 02:13 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:47 pm IST - NEW Delhi/ Mumbai:

The Congress released its first list of 118 candidates for the Maharashtra state elections just short of midnight on Wednesday, a signal to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that its patience was running out.

For even on Wednesday evening, the NCP refused to budge from its demand for 144 seats in the 288-strong assembly, and several of its leaders said in Mumbai that they would file their nominations on Thursday morning, a move that is being seen as an attempt to force the Congress to concede more seats.

The Congress's first list predictably contained the names of its top leaders: chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from Karad South, campaign chief Narayan Rane, Padamrao Kadam, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Kripashankar Singh,

Balasaheb Thorat, and two members of Gen Next, Amrit Vilasrao Deshmukh and Praniti Shinde.

Earlier, through the day, senior central Congress leaders A K Antony and Mallikarjun Kharge were in touch with their colleagues in Maharashtra, including the Chief Minister who was camping in Karad. Mr Rane said the Chief Minister was in touch with the party high command, and that a decision on the alliance could be taken by Wednesday night, a contention confirmed by a party general secretary in Delhi.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who has chief ministerial ambitions, sources said, is driving the NCP’s negotiations with the Congress, insistent not just on 144 assembly seats, but also on making the Chief Minister’s post rotational, a demand that surfaced only on Tuesday.

The state Congress, on its part, has also dug in its heels: “If there are unreasonable demands, then it is difficult to have an alliance. Most of the issues between us have been resolved,” Mr Chavan said, adding, “Now it is up to the NCP to decide.”

The Congress had initially offered the NCP 124 seats, ten more than the 114 it contested in 2009: however, NCP sources say that the ten new seats on offer are “losing seats” located in saffron strongholds. Party sources in Delhi say that the Congress’s final offer could touch around 130 and at the time of writing, it appeared that the NCP might settle for 135 if the principle of a rotational CM was accepted.

Both parties are blaming the other for the delay: if the Congress said it was waiting for the NCP’s response, the latter complained that Mr Chavan was unavailable for talks. “How can the discussion proceed if Mr Chavan spends the in his constituency?” NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal asked.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.