Seat-sharing: Work cut out for Cong-NCP

Earlier this week, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) started discussions with smaller parties in the state to form a grand alliance against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 2019 general elections. However, the seatsharing formula seems to be easier said than done for the two national parties.

Senior leaders from Congress and NCP said the smaller parties’ demand ‘unreasonable’ number of seats, which may pose a challenge for Congress and NCP to take the talks forward.

The Congress-NCP formed a panel consisting of state party president Ashok Chavan and leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and NCP’s state party president Jayant Patil and leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde.

Vikhe-Patil said, “The Congress is determined on having an alliance with all like-minded parties, the talks for which have begun. We are hopeful about the amicable conclusions over seat sharing.”

The Congress-NCP may be forced to concede five Lok Sabha seats to the smaller parties, including Hatkanangale and Palghar to Swabhimani Paksha and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) and may consider leaving a seat for Prakash Ambedkar’s Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) in Akola. “Raju Shetti (Swabhimani Paksha) and Kapil Patil (Loktantrik Janata Dal) demanded three Lok Sabha seats each, while RPI Gavai asked for two seats,’’ a Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, said.

The Peasants and Workers Party may ask for the Mawal seat spread across Raigad and Pune. “We have decided to go with the Congress and expect 10 more parties to join us. We are determined to fight on more seats this time, as our current strength in the Lok Sabha is more than Congress,” an NCP leader said.

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