National parties hit regional roadblock
23 Sept 2014 5:32 AM IST
Following a meeting of the party leaders in Mumbai, NCP leader Praful Patel on Monday said that his party was willing to continue its ties with Congress. Patel said Congress has shown compliance to take the issue further and leaders of both parties will meet to discuss seat sharing on Tuesday in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi that he was optimistic about amicably resolving the standoff on seat sharing with NCP. However, Singhvi came up with a caveat that in the event of break-up of the alliance, Congress was capable of going it alone. Congress Central Election Committee met in New Delhi on Monday and discussion was held on all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.
Party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry said that party president Sonia Gandhi along with Maharashtra chief minister, party chief in the state and general secretary in-charge will decide the fate of the alliance. On the other hand, despite the intervention of prime minister Narendra Modi, the chances of amicable settlement with Shiv Sena looked difficult as the smaller partners of the alliance too have upped the ante. State BJP has called an office bearers’ meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday with a message from Modi that he wants them to make every effort till the last moment to try and save the alliance.
BJP sources said the Maharashtra unit is in favour of dumping the Shiv Sena and contesting alone if the partner does not concede to the demand for more seats to contest.
There are 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly. The BJP wants both parties to contest 135 seats each and leave 18 for smaller parties. In negotiations it has said it can come down to between 126 and 130 seats. In what Sena chief Udhav Thackeray called his final offer on Sunday, the Sena says it is willing to contest 151 seats, 18 less than the 169 it contested last time, thus allotting all 18 seats to smaller allies from its quota. That will leave 119 seats for BJP, the number it had contested then.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi that he was optimistic about amicably resolving the standoff on seat sharing with NCP. However, Singhvi came up with a caveat that in the event of break-up of the alliance, Congress was capable of going it alone. Congress Central Election Committee met in New Delhi on Monday and discussion was held on all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.
Party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry said that party president Sonia Gandhi along with Maharashtra chief minister, party chief in the state and general secretary in-charge will decide the fate of the alliance. On the other hand, despite the intervention of prime minister Narendra Modi, the chances of amicable settlement with Shiv Sena looked difficult as the smaller partners of the alliance too have upped the ante. State BJP has called an office bearers’ meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday with a message from Modi that he wants them to make every effort till the last moment to try and save the alliance.
BJP sources said the Maharashtra unit is in favour of dumping the Shiv Sena and contesting alone if the partner does not concede to the demand for more seats to contest.
There are 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly. The BJP wants both parties to contest 135 seats each and leave 18 for smaller parties. In negotiations it has said it can come down to between 126 and 130 seats. In what Sena chief Udhav Thackeray called his final offer on Sunday, the Sena says it is willing to contest 151 seats, 18 less than the 169 it contested last time, thus allotting all 18 seats to smaller allies from its quota. That will leave 119 seats for BJP, the number it had contested then.
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