NCP tries to gain an upper hand over Congress by demanding more seats in the forthcoming assembly election.
Blame games have begun after the Congress party had suffered its worst defeat in the recently concluded LokSabha election. Party leaders have held the weak leadership of Rahul Gandhi responsible for the poll debacle. On the other hand, NCP had demanded more seats in the forthcoming assembly election. NCP party Chief SharadPawar wants the seat sharing formula to be reworked after Congress party’s tally had reduced to two. According to him, NCP should be allotted more seats in the assembly election as the party has fared better than the Congress by winning four seats.
SharadPawar said, “Our party should get more seats for contesting the assembly elections in Maharashtra as the performance of the Congress has been poor in the state.”
“Last time, when we wonfewer seats than Congress in LokSabha polls, the latter said that it was entitled to contest more seats for the assembly election. We should discuss about the seat sharing arrangement with the Congress party. Congress must remember that we have won more seats in this election” Pawar added.
During the 2009 Assembly polls, NCP had contested 114 seats compared to 174 by Congress in the 288 member House. In the recent LokSabha polls NCP won four and Congress two seats in the state.
SachinSawant, Congress Maharashtra state unit spokesperson said,“As of now there is no proposal to review the seat sharing arrangement for the assembly polls. If we receive any communication in regard to this matter from the NCP then the high command will look into this matter and a decision will be taken.”
It may be recalled that during the last assembly polls Congress state unit President Manikrao Thackeray had said that Congress is in a position to contest more seats for assembly polls after faring better in the LokSabha polls as compared to its ally NCP.
In recently concluded LokSabha polls, Congress had contested 27 seats out of 48 seats whereas its ally NCP contested from 21 seats in the state. Congress managed to win two seats while NCP’swon four seats. NCP has sharpened its attack on the Congress party and has held the party responsible for the poll debacle. The party attributed the UPA rout mainly to the “communication deficit” on part of the outgoing prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
NCP leader Praful Patel who lost the LokSabha election from Gondia held Rahul Gandhi responsible for the defeat and said, “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was missing during the entire election campaign and the Congress party failed to project a leader for the prime ministerial candidate. People were confused about Rahul Gandhi’s role if the Congress had retained power.”
Congress stalwart Narayan Rane held NCPresponsible for the downfall of UPAin the state and said, “NCP supporters were negatively campaigning against the Congress which was responsible for our defeat in the election. If NCP wants to review the seat sharing arrangement then they shouldsurrender the seats offered to them by us.”
