Congress-NCP alliance talks still underway, both indulge in muscle flexing

Congress not willing to concede any more than 114 seats to NCP while latter wants an equal share of 144 seats of 288 in fray

There was little clarity in the ongoing seat sharing talks between the Congress and NCP in Maharashtra for the upcoming Assembly polls with both sides resorting to muscle flexing.

While Congress senior leader Manikrao Thakre said in New Delhi that the alliance in Maharashtra could be in trouble as there has been no positive response so far from Sharad Pawar's party to their proposals; NCP senior leader Praful Patel, in Mumbai retorted that the "NCP will wait for only one more day for Congress' decision on seat-sharing."

The bone of contention being that Congress is not willing to concede any more than 114 seats to the NCP while the latter was demanding an equal share of 144 seats of the 288 in the fray.

The Congress meanwhile has nearly finalised 130 candidates at the central election committee meeting in the capital today. The fact that the election notification for the October 15 polls has been issued has accelerated the bargaining between both sides.

NCP leader Patel today said, "All options are open to us if Congress does not respond." Adding, "NCP will wait for only one more day for Congress' decision on seat-sharing."

Party sources say that the Congress could agree on giving upto 130 seats, not more. The NCP argues that since the Congress had performed so poorly in the Lok Sabha polls (Congress could secure only two seats while NCP had won four out of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state), the NCP was in a position to demand 144 seats.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were slated to meet to finalise the deal, but with no headway being made, no dates have been fixed.