Mumbai: The State Congress on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the proposal by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to share seats equally in the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, held consultations with State Congress leaders in Mumbai on the proposal. The NCP has proposed that both parties, whose coalition had been the ruling dispensation prior to the BJP taking over in 2014, share seats equally in both elections. It also said both parties should take care of smaller parties from their respective quotas.
Congress sources said Mr. Kharge was asked by party president Rahul Gandhi to ascertain the view taken by State party leaders on the NCP proposal. Leaders have indicated they aren’t in favour of sharing seats equally with the NCP, citing the latter’s lack of organisational reach in Vidarbha and Mumbai. Mr. Kharge will be informing Mr. Gandhi of their view, and a decision is likely to be taken by the party high command.
Talks of an alliance in the State between the Congress and NCP have begun at a higher level some days ago. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha and 288 Assembly seats. The NCP has 5 MPs and 41 MLAs compared to Congress’s 2 MPs and 42 MLAs. Both parties were in alliance in the 2014 general elections, in which NCP had contested 21 seats and Congress, 27. In 2019, the NCP wants to contest 24 seats, party chief Sharad Pawar has reportedly told Mr. Gandhi.
‘No was unanimous’
Responding to Mr. Pawar's statement that a PM from Opposition parties will be decided after elections, Mr. Kharge said, “Mr. Pawar explained his position. My job is to ensure thay my party gets more seats and Rahul Gandhi becomes the PM.”
On contesting elections together, Mr. Kharge said secular forces and like-minded parties should come together. “We gave an opportunity to the smaller parties in Karnataka to keep BJP out of power. This is the sacrifice that we made and we feel that everyone should be ready to do so,” he added.
A senior leader said State Congress leaders were unanimous in their opposition to equal sharing of seats. “The NCP has not gained enough strength to demand equal number of seats. All leaders conveyed this to Mr. Kharge.” This, he added, has effectively put the ball in the high command’s court. Sources said leaders told Mr. Kharge that any decision taken in the larger national context will be acceptable.
Party sources said the NCP is weak in Vidarbha and Mumbai, which have 62 and 36 Assembly seats respectively, and 13 Lok Sabha seats together. “Where is NCP’s organisation in these two regions? Congress must get more seats here and that means sharing equally is not viable,” a Congress leader from Vidarbha and a former State Minister, said.
