Cong-NCP seat pact saves the day for UPA

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) prevented further hemorrhage in its ranks as the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) finalised their seat-sharing arrangement for Maharashtra on the first day of filing nomination papers.

The first phase of polls in the state is scheduled on April 16. The Congress will contest 26 seats and the NCP 22, one more than the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. The deal assumes significance for the Congress after it had failed to strike pre-poll alliances with allies in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The announcement to this effect was made by Defence Minister and Congress in-charge for Maharashtra affairs AK Antony, along with senior NCP leader and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and NCP general secretary DP Tripathi. This is the second poll pact in the country that the Congress has managed to finalise after Jharkhand, where it has an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

Although both parties declared their candidates at a press conference today, Patel indicated this was not a final settlement and some negotiation might continue. “Both parties will hold talks in day or two to see whether an exchange of seats is possible,” said Patel while replying to questions.

The Congress is desperately trying to get the Osmanabad seat in the Marathwada region from the NCP in exchange for another seat in the same region, Jalna. Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh wants to contest from Osmanabad. However, the NCP is not ready to concede the seat which it lost in the 2004 elections by just 1,600 votes. Instead, the NCP is ready to exchange the Raver seat in lieu of Jalna, an offer the Congress is not ready to accept.