Congress, NCP reach seat-sharing deal for Maharashtra polls

Nashik (Maharashtra): The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party will contest 125 seats each, while other allies will contest the remaining 38 seats in Maharashtra assembly polls next month, NCP President Sharad Pawar announced here on Monday.

Addressing the media here, he said that the other allies include the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, the Peasants & Workers Party, the Peoples Republican Party and the Left parties.

Pawar said it will be significant which seat will be contested by which party and the candidates they put up, though there may a swapping of a few seats, even as the NCP will try and give the opportunity to fresh faces.

"We are making efforts to have combined election rallies of all Opposition parties in important cities like Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik. Barely a month is left and the Election Commission is likely to announce the elections scheduled within this week," he said.

The NCP chief's declaration came even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena combine have yet to finalise their alliance amid murmurs of discontent in the latter which may be offered a lesser quota by the BJP.

On the spate of defections from the NCP to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena, Pawar said: "We are not concerned about those who have left the party. Some people feel that they (BJP-Sena) will return to power. However, public sentiments are against them. We will definitely win."

"Some people who have quit the NCP have said that they were threatened with probes by investigating agencies like the ED. I don't want to reveal their names, but this is what they have said," he claimed.

On his remarks concerning Pakistan, the NCP chief said that he said nothing about the neighbouring country, but commented on his experiences with the people of that nation.

"The Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) should get proper information before speaking. I had spoken about my friends, the response was given to Indian cricket team, how they cheered every time they (Indians) scored runs, and such things," Pawar said.