No plans to contest Maharashtra polls alone, says NCP leader

Asserting that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has no plans to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections on its own, Maharashtra NCP president Sunil Tatkare said here today that the Congress-NCP seat sharing formula would be finalised by Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi.
Talking to reporters, Tatkare said that grass roots cadres have been demanding that the party should contest more seats this time.
Tatkare was responding to questions about the party's aggressive posture and feedback at party meetings held in different parts of Maharashtra recently that it is prepared to go alone if its demand for "equal" seat sharing was not met.

He said the list of candidates would be announced after seat sharing talks with the Congress conclude.
On whether sitting MLAs would be renominated, Tatkare said that work done by elected representatives and their winning capability would be deciding factor during renomination.
He said the NCP is prepared to snap ties with the Sena-BJP at the Zilla Parishad level and asked the Congress to initiate the process at their level as well.
"I have issued a circular to district units of the NCP that if there is a neccessity for an alliance at the local level, it should be with the Congress only. We showed our commitment to the coalition when we dissociated ourselves from Deepak Kesarkar after he refused to campaign for Nilesh Rane of the Congress in the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency," he said.