Congress, NCP seat sharing talks on Tuesday

After a gap of few weeks, the Congress and its ally NCP will resume seat-sharing talks this week for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

On Tuesday, top leaders of both the parties will meet in Mumbai and discuss the seat-sharing formula based on the previous arrangements and the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Elections in Maharashtra, which has a 288-member strong Legislative Assembly, may be held in September-October.

The Congress and the NCP have principally agreed on nearly 200 of the 288 seats.

Since Rahul Gandhi has resigned from the post of AICC president and his successor is yet to be named, getting a stamp of approval for Maharashtra plan will take some time.

Also, it needs to be mentioned that Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan and Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Milind Deora have resigned, though the resignations are yet to be accepted by the Congress high-command.

Chavan and his NCP counterpart Jayant Patil are ready with a list of some candidates from their respective parties.

The July 16 meeting would also have a look at the alliances.

During the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-NCP led a 56-party alliance.

However, the front, particularly the Congress, got a big jolt from the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).

The 10-day deadline given by Prakash's party will end this week, but the Congress is still open to holding its hand.

A senior Congress leader has pointed out that intellectuals like Laxman Mane recently quit the VBA which indicates that all is not well there.

"The AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal are both busy with the Karnataka crisis and that has delayed the process of leadership change in Maharashtra," sources said.