NCP president Sharad Pawar is not willing to forgo his equal partnership rights with Congress in the October assembly elections in Maharashtra. At a core committee meeting, the NCP has decided that Congress would have to honour them with 122 seats out of a total of 288, if it wanted to keep the alliance intact. Or else, NCP would go alone and field 200 candidates across the state.
The NCP leaders have sensed that there is a strong move within the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) to corner them by handing over 90 seats. In 2004, the Congress contested 166 seats and NCP 122. On Friday, MPCC chief Manickrao Thackre said, “Post delimitation, there are 179 seats very favourable for Congress. We will have to accommodate individuals and groups seeking Congress ticket.” This evidently implied that NCP would have to settle for a lesser number of seats.
“We understand that there is a move within the Congress to undermine NCP’s strength. But we will not accept anything less than 122 seats. We look forward for an alliance with Congress. But if Congress is stubborn, we will not hesitate to break the alliance and contest alone,” said senior NCP leader Madan Bafna, arguing that even if his party contests alone, it has the ability to win 60 to 65 seats across Maharashtra. If Congress manages an equal number, it will have to enter into a post-poll alliance to form the government.
