Congress may fight 140 seats in Maha

MUMBAI:The Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a few smaller parties may opt for “friendly fights” in seven to eight constituencies across the state, with the Congress likely to contest more than 140 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Earlier, the Congress had announced it would contest 125 seats. The NCP is expected to contest 125 seats, while its smaller allies could get to contest 17-18 seats.

However, the announcement of a final seat-sharing agreement for smaller parties could not be made on Wednesday. Negotiations with Swabhimani Paksha (SP) and Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) went on till late on Wednesday, which delayed the announcement of a grand alliance of Opposition parties. “We have been holding meetings with Swabhimani Sanghatana and PWP leaders and expect to resolve the issue by late night. There are no differences between Congress and NCP over the sharing of seats,” said former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

While the Congress and NCP could convince the Samajwadi Party (SP) to come on board by conceding three seats, the Left parties have decided to contest on their own.

The parties had to concede to the demand of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) of contesting some seats in a “friendly fight”.

“Our talks with Congress-NCP led to no conclusion. We have now decided to field 15 candidates and will have a friendly fight,” Subhash Lande, CPI leader, said.

“Our alliance with the PWP and CPI and CPI(M) will be in a friendly manner in some of the constituencies.,” said a Congress leader.

EARLIER, THE CONGRESS HAD ANNOUNCED IT WOULD CONTEST 125 SEATS. THE NCP IS EXPECTED TO CONTEST 125 SEATS