The Congress finally has finally bowed down to the demands of NCP by accepting the 26:22 seat sharing agreement with the party. The seat sharing issue has always remained a bone of contention between both the parties. Earlier, the Congress had asked the NCP to accept the 26:19 formula based on its performance in the assembly and Lok Sabha election. NCP nonetheless opposed and said that it won’t accepting anything less than 22 seats. The deadlock between both the parties arises whenever elections are scheduled to be held in the state.
State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre hinted that the seat sharing formula between the Congress and the NCP would remain the same at 26:22, respectively. He announced a list of 26 observers in the constituencies fought by the party in the last polls.
However, Mr Thakre refused to admit that the formula would remain the same. “After the discussions with the NCP, we will announce our seat sharing formula. The meeting will take place on February 11 and February 12, after which we will issue a joint statement,” Mr Thakre said.
He said that the responsibility has been entrusted to its senior ministers who would also oversee poll preparations in 26 constituencies of the state.
Some of the ministers who have been entrusted with the responsibility are, Narayan Rane, who would oversee work in Raigad and Ratnagiri, Balasaheb Thorat (Nandurbar), Patangrao Kadam and Harshawardhan Patil (Pune and Sangli), Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (Shirdi and Wardha), Naseem Khan (South Central Mumbai and South Mumbai), Suresh Shetty (North Western and North Central Mumbai), Sanjay Deotale (Gadchiroli), Shivajirao Moghe (Yavatmal and Chandrapur), Rajendra Darda and Ranjeet Kamble (Akola and Jalna). The Congress has been demanding 27 seats, while the NCP has already finalised its list of 22 candidates who would contest Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra.
“Congress-NCP seat sharing talks are at a preliminary state. Praful Patel and Chief Minister Chavan have already held discussions. Congress’ internal meetings are on,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.
Hindi film actor Nana Patekar has reportedly turned down an offer by the BJP to contest the upcoming 2014 General Elections from Mumbai North Central constituency against Congress’ Priya Dutt.
As per reports in a leading daily, Nana Patekar was one of the actors who was approached by the BJP to take on the Congress MP.
Priya Dutt is the sister of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt and daughter of legendary actor Sunil Dutt, who was a Congress leader and an MP from the Mumbai North Central constituency. Priya started contesting from the seat after her father’s death.
According to sources, the BJP leaders has asked the Shiv Sena to allow a candidate from BJP to contest election from south Mumbai which will enable the party to defeat Milind Deora as the majority of the residents in this area belong to Jain community.
