The Congress and its ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are heading for a major confrontation over seat-sharing for the Maharashtra Assembly polls. Even as the NCP demanded a fifty per cent share of the seats, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan warned the party on Thursday that there would be no alliance if the self-respect of parties was not honoured.
“A decision on the alliance will be taken but the self-respect of parties should be kept in mind. Otherwise there will be no alliance,” Mr Chavan said at a party rally in Pune.
State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre rejected the NCP’s demand outright. “On what basis are they demanding more seats? It was on our strength that they won seats in the Lok Sabha,” Mr Thakre said at the rally. The Congress plans to release its first list by August 7.
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Meanwhile, the NCP is planning to hold a crucial meeting led by party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday to discuss issues within the alliance.
The NCP has been talking tough on seat-sharing after it won two seats more than the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls. It wants to contest 144 of the 288 seats and has even threatened to contest alone if the Congress does not concede. In the 2009 elections, the Congress had contested 174 seats and the NCP 114 seats.
The NCP raised the demand once again at the first coordination committee meeting between the allies on Wednesday. “Our demand is based on the Congress party’s own formula. When the Congress performed well in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, it demanded more seats for the State Assembly elections. We are doing the same,” said State NCP chief Sunil Tatkare.
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