Cong, NCP to fight Maharashtra Assembly polls together: Pawar

Congress and NCP will fight the Assembly polls in Maharashtra together, NCP leader Sharad Pawar announced today after a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the issue of seat-sharing.

With Assembly elections in Maharashtra just a few months away, the meeting assumes significance as leaders of the two parties in the state have been making conflicting claims and demands on seat-sharing with some of them even making a pitch for going it solo.

"Congress and NCP will fight together in Maharashtra. I had a meeting with Congress President today morning," Pawar said without elaborating.

Amid claims and counter-claims over the number of seats to be contested, the NCP chief had said sometime back that he and Gandhi alone would decide the issue.

Congress and NCP are in coalition in Maharashtra since 1999.

In the wake of the Congress drubbing in the lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, state NCP leaders have been demanding that the parties contest the 288 seats in the state on a 50:50 basis. Congress secured just two while NCP won 4 seats of the 48 lok Sabha seats in the state.