Cong ministers do not want to yield to NCP on seat-sharing

Congress in Maharashtra has decided to be insistent on the continuity of the 174:114 seat-sharing formula with NCP for the upcoming Assembly elections, during talks with the ally later.
NCP is seeking equal number of seats for elections to the 288-member legislative assembly, due later this year.
At a pre-cabinet meeting of Congress ministers, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan sought views of his colleagues on the matter, sources said.
All the Congress ministers were unanimous that there should be no change in the 2009 arrangement (Congress 174 and NCP 114).
Chavan, in today's meeting, assessed the pre-poll situation in western Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra. He would talk to the Congress ministers from Konkan, Mumbai and Thane later, the sources added.

NCP had demanded more seats in the upcoming Assembly elections on the ground that it did better in the state in the Lok Sabha elections this time. NCP bagged four LS seats while Congress got only two, out of the 48 seats from Maharashtra.
But Congress wants seat-sharing on the basis of performances in the 2009 Assembly elections, when it had won 82 seats, against NCP's 62.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP stalwart Ajit Pawar had said recently that NCP would contest all the 288 seats on its own if its demand of 144 seats was not met. However, NCP later said that the final decision would be taken by party chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.