LS elections: Congress-NCP may finalise seat-sharing, form alliance with smaller parties by Feb 20

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, along with party’s general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal, met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday

The Congress and National Congress Party (NCP) are likely to finalise their seat-sharing and forge an alliance with smaller parties, including Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Paksha, Prakash Ambedkar’s Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh and other factions of Republican Party of India (RPI), before February 20, the day the two parties plan to launch their campaign with a joint rally at Nanded.

Although the chances of Ambedkar joining the grand alliance are slim, the Congress-NCP is expected to offer additional seats to Shetti. The induction of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) may be a bone of contention between the two parties, as the Congress has strongly objected to joining hands with the MNS and AIMIM, terming them communal. The NCP is mulling an informal arrangement with MNS, in the face of Congress’ opposition. Eight of the 48 seats could be given to the smaller parties.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, along with party’s general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal, met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday. Party MPs Supriya Sule and Praful Patel were also present. State leaders from both the parties held a joint meeting on Wednesday evening and are likely to meet again in the next two days to arrive at final consensus. Patel and Kharge met on Thursday evening. “We held at least six meetings with Ambedkar and have offered him four seats, despite which he is not keen on joining the alliance. We have lost hopes, but we want to send out a clear message that we tried until the last minute to keep communal forces at bay,” said a Congress leader.

The Congress and NCP are keen on taking other RPI groups led by Rajendra Gavai and Jogendra Kawade and other parties on board. The alliance may concede Palghar seat to Bahujan Vikas Aghadi headed by Hitendra Thakur and Dindori for Communist Party of India (M). If Thakur refuses to join, the Palghar seat will be offered to the CPI (M). Besides, Hatkanangale, Shetti’s party is likely to get Buldhana seat. He has been pressing for Wardha constituency too. NCP president Sharad Pawar reportedly spoke with Shetti over the phone on Wednesday.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, “In our parliamentary committee meeting, we decided to hold discussions with the MNS to take it along. We will talk to Congress.”

The NCP is expected to concede Kalyan seat to the MNS, which has also been vying Mumbai North-East, Nashik and Thane seats.

Patel said the decision on disputed seats between two parties will be taken by Kharge and him. “Our list of candidates has been finalised, but we will not announce it unless we are done with the discussion with smaller parties. We are sure about winning at least 35 seats in the state,” he said. “We are keen on finalising the seat-sharing before our joint meeting in Nanded,” said Congress leader Manikrao Thakre.

The joint rally at Nanded will be followed by a rally at Beed and will be joined by chief ministers of newly formed Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. “It is not clear if Rahul Gandhi is attending the Nanded rally, but he is likely to address a public rally in Maharashtra before the announcement of code of conduct,” another Congress leader said.

Meanwhile, senior NCP leaders Ganesh Naik and Chhagan Bhujbal have refused to enter the fray despite party’s attempts to convince them to improve the party strength in Lok Sabha. Instead, Bhujbal has batted for his nephew and former party MP Sameer Bhujbal from Nashik, while Naik is vying for Thane constituency for his son and former MP Sanjeev Naik.

The state unit of Congress finalised names for a few constituencies, including Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur), Mukul Wasnik (Ramtek), Manikrao Thakre (Yavatmal), Charulata Tokas(Wardha), Rohidas Patil(Dhule), Amita Chavan(Nanded).