Anti- NCP faction in Maha Cong high on exit polls

Pushes for larger share of Lok Sabha seats in coalition

Buoyed by the results of the exit polls predicting a Congress victory in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the faction in the Maharashtra Congress, which is against sharing equal number of seats with the National Congress Party ( NCP) for the 2019 elections, is now asking the state leadership to withdraw from the alliance agreement.

The Congress and NCP had decided to contest 24 seats each in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra has a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats. But the anti- NCP faction within the state Congress is planning to re- think the deal as they feel that

the NCP is too weak to field candidates in all 24 seats. They feel the Congress should stick to its earlier formula of 2721 that was used in the 2014 elections. This is likely to create tension between both parties amidst alliance talks.

A group within the state Congress led by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is known to be as against the NCP. It is even against contesting the elections in an alliance with the party. But the weak position of the Congress has forced the group to agree to the alliance. However, the exit polls reports from the five states has given them an opportunity to push their demand. In its bid to forge a grand alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) in the state, the Congress had decided to agree to sharing equal number of seats with NCP.

Earlier, the Congress used to contest 27 seats and the NCP 21.