Congress and NCP will fight the Assembly polls in Maharashtra together and modalities on seat sharing will be finalised in the next 8-10 days, NCP leader Sharad Pawar announced after a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the alliance.
With Assembly elections in Maharashtra just a few months away, the meeting assumes significance as leaders of the two ruling coalition partners have been making conflicting claims and demands on seat-sharing with some of them even making a pitch for going it alone.The Maratha strongman told PTI that leaders from both the parties in the state will finalise the seat-sharing agreement in the next 8-10 days.
Amid claims over the number of seats to be contested, the NCP chief had said that he and Sonia alone would decide on the issue. With the severe drubbing of the Congress in lok Sabha polls, the NCP is perceived to be in an aggressive mode.The state NCP leaders have been demanding that the parties contest the 288 seats on a 50:50 basis. In the previous Assembly elections, the NCP had contested 114 seats after its dismal show in 2009 lok Sabha polls.