Poll pact talks with Congress after new MPCC chief named: NCP

The formal seat-sharing talks between the NCP and the Congress for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls will begin once the latter names its new state unit president, sources in the Sharad Pawar-led outfit said Thursday.

This was decided during a meeting between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge at the former's 6, Janpath residence in New Delhi Wednesday, the sources said.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Ashok Chavan has stepped down from the post owing to his party's poor outing in the state in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The party has not nominated Chavan's successor yet.

Former Maharashtra minister Balasaheb Thorat is considered as the front runner for the top organisational slot in the state Congress.

The Congress and the NCP had contested the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with other like-minded parties.

They have decided to enter into a tie-up for the upcoming state Assembly polls, due in September-October, too.

"Kharge met Saheb (Pawar) in Delhi...As of now, we don't know who to talk to in the state Congress over seat- sharing for the polls. The formals talks cannot begin until the Congress appoints its Maharashtra unit chief," the NCP sources said.

According to sources in the Congress, the party's central leadership is expected to name its state unit head in a day or two.

On its part, the NCP has already started collecting applications from the party's Assembly poll ticket aspirants and is likely to whittle down the list of its potential candidates this month itself, a party insider said.

According to the insider, as of Wednesday, the party had received around 150 forms from its ticket aspirants from different parts of the state.

"Some of the willing contenders have submitted their applications to the party's district heads. These will be forwarded to the Mumbai head office by July 6 -- the deadline to submit forms -- for scrutiny," the leader said.

The Congress and the NCP had contested the October 2014 Assembly polls separately after sharing power for 15 years in a row in Maharashtra.

The Congress and the NCP had contested 287 and 278 seats, respectively, of the total 288 Assembly segments in the state.

The Congress could win 42 seats, while the NCP had emerged victorious in 41 segments.

In this year's Lok Sabha polls, the Congress could clinch only one seat in Maharashtra as against the NCP's four.

Sources in the NCP have maintained the party would seek 144 (50 per cent) seats in its quota as part of the pre- poll understanding with the Congress.

"We will also have to accommodate some of our allies under our quota of seats," the sources said.