Seat-sharing: Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar may meet to end deadlock
- 5 years ago
The uncertainty over the seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the NCP could end this week. Sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar could meet in the next two days to resolve the deadlock. The Congress, which was insisting that it cannot offer more than 125 seats, is learnt to have decided to offer a maximum of 130 seats to end the stalemate.
But the NCP, which initially demanded 144 of the 288 seats and later brought it down to 136, has not yet agreed. Sources, however, said the Sonia-Pawar meeting would end the stalemate with some more give and take. Besides asking for more seats, the NCP also wants to swap some of the seats with the Congress, as many as seven in Mumbai alone. On this too, there has been no agreement.
The Congress had contested 174 seats last time, leaving 114 to the NCP. But with the Congress decimated in Maharasthra in the Lok Sabha elections, the NCP flexed its muscles putting forward a 50:50 formula. Despite contesting lesser number of seats than the Congress, the NCP managed to win four seats in the Lok Sabha elections while the Congress could win only two. Sources in the Congress said the two parties would thrash out the seat sharing arrangement this week itself.
Talks between the two sides have been lingering for long despite an agreement. There have been meetings between A K Antony and Pawar as well as Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and NCP’s Praful Patel. Sources said the Congress central election committee is likely to meet either on Friday or Saturday to finalise its candidates for both Haryana and Maharashtra. Sources in the Congress said the Assembly bypoll results have injected a sense of urgency to conclude the seat sharing arrangement.
Even though senior Congress leaders here admit Maharashtra was a tough challenge for the party, some of the state leaders are lobbying hard for tickets for their sons, daughters, wives and other relatives.
Sources said party’s campaign committee chief Narayan Rane and state Congress president Manikrao Thakre want tickets for their sons.
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But the NCP, which initially demanded 144 of the 288 seats and later brought it down to 136, has not yet agreed. Sources, however, said the Sonia-Pawar meeting would end the stalemate with some more give and take. Besides asking for more seats, the NCP also wants to swap some of the seats with the Congress, as many as seven in Mumbai alone. On this too, there has been no agreement.
The Congress had contested 174 seats last time, leaving 114 to the NCP. But with the Congress decimated in Maharasthra in the Lok Sabha elections, the NCP flexed its muscles putting forward a 50:50 formula. Despite contesting lesser number of seats than the Congress, the NCP managed to win four seats in the Lok Sabha elections while the Congress could win only two. Sources in the Congress said the two parties would thrash out the seat sharing arrangement this week itself.
Talks between the two sides have been lingering for long despite an agreement. There have been meetings between A K Antony and Pawar as well as Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and NCP’s Praful Patel. Sources said the Congress central election committee is likely to meet either on Friday or Saturday to finalise its candidates for both Haryana and Maharashtra. Sources in the Congress said the Assembly bypoll results have injected a sense of urgency to conclude the seat sharing arrangement.
Even though senior Congress leaders here admit Maharashtra was a tough challenge for the party, some of the state leaders are lobbying hard for tickets for their sons, daughters, wives and other relatives.
Sources said party’s campaign committee chief Narayan Rane and state Congress president Manikrao Thakre want tickets for their sons.
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