The Congress leadership is taking hope from the NCP’s decision to hold further discussions with it on their alliance. Though the NCP has demanded at least half of the total 288 Assembly seats, the Congress believes the real issue is not sharing of seats, but the chief ministerial ambition of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

The NCP on Monday reiterated that it will continue the alliance but also remained firm on its demand for half the Assembly seats in the October 15 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Senior NCP leader Praful Patel said after a party core committee meeting that the party has unanimously decided to continue the alliance with Congress in the State, but is now waiting for a response from the latter.

The Congress high command, after a meeting of the central election committee on Maharashtra, expressed hope that the issues will be settled amicably. The Congress is also attempting some hard bargaining by discussing probable candidates for all the 288 seats. “We have held discussion on all seats,” AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry said.

He added that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, PCC President Manikrao Thakre and the General Secretary in-charge of the State Mohan Prakash will hold discussions with the high command on the issue of alliance.

Later, a Congress leader said the possibilities on the alliance are on “razor’s edge.” “There is 75 per cent chance for the alliance. We do not think that the secular cadre of the NCP will allow the party leadership to leave the alliance,” the leader said and added that the issue can be amicably resolved once Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar meet.

“We do not think that the real issue is seat sharing. The real issue is the aspiration of the Deputy Chief Minister to become Chief Minister,” the leader added.

Ajit Pawar has been advocating going it alone for quite some time. A big section of the NCP that favours this policy believes that the party has more chances to win in a four-cornered fight in the State.

Going it alone

Chhagan Bhujbal, another NCP strongman, has also publicly said that all the parties should contest alone in the State.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said there is no scope for a four-cornered contest in the State and the alliance will continue. Chavan said discussions with the NCP are going on on a separate platform. “We are completing our seat selection while talks with NCP are going on at a different level. Discussions with NCP are going on,” he told reporters after the meeting of the selection committee.

Related Topics