NCP breaks alliance with Congress in Maharashtra

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday broke its alliance with the Congress ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, blaming their erstwhile allies of not being on the same page as far the allocation of seats in the state was concerned.

Speaking at a press conference here, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said, "We were a newly-formed party in the 1999 elections. When we realised that it was impossible for a single party to form the government in the state, we allied ourselves with the Congress. We gave support to the Congress for the betterment of the people of the nation."

"In the 2004 elections, we had more MLAs than the Congress. Nevertheless, we were modest and gave support to them. We have always supported Congress and let their candidate become the Chief Minister every time," he added.

Patel, however, said that the Congress offered fewer seats to the NCP this year than was called for.

"We requested the Congress to expedite discussions on seat-sharing, but we met formally to seal deal on alliance only three or four days back. We had put our view in detail before them but they were adamant. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre always offered us 124 seats, which we denied," said Patel.

"We also offered a proposal of equally sharing tenure for the Chief Minister's post, which the Congress denied as well. We regret to say that even after being together for a long time, a pragmatic decision was not taken within our alliance," he added.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Sunil Tatkare said that his party will go with secular and like-minded parties in the Maharashtra Assembly elections and break away from the Congress.

Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister of Ajit Pawar, who was also present during the media briefing, said that he would meet Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and submit the papers regarding the decision.

The NCP's announcement came minutes after the BJP ended its 25-year alliance with the Shiv Sena.

Maharashtra will go to polls on October 15 while the counting of votes will take place on October 18. There are 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.