Absence of state Congress chief delays NCP election pact
Kharge told Mr Pawar that seat-sharing would be discussed with the state leadership.
Mumbai: The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to hold seat-sharing talks for the Maharashtra Assembly elections after the former elects its new state chief.
The post has been lying vacant since Ashok Chavan's resignation. On Thursday, sources from NCP informed that Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his New Delhi residence Wednesday, where both parties agreed to keep the seat-sharing talks in abeyance for now.
A senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said that a primary discussion was held Wednesday between Mr Kharge and Mr Pawar over seat-sharing in New Delhi.
Mr Kharge told Mr Pawar that seat-sharing would be discussed with the state leadership. The NCP chief might nominate his party leaders for discussion over seat-sharing, or the state leadership may go to speak with him. The sources in the party said that the discussion would begin once the new state party chief was appointed.
Congress state president Ashok Chavan tendered his resignation in May after the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, and the same was accepted. Former revenue minister and legislator from Sangamner in Ahmednagar district, Balasaheb Thorat was all set to lead the Maharashtra Congress unit. However, the party is to nominate Mr Chavan’s successor yet.
The Congress and NCP contested the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with other like-minded parties. They decided to enter a tie-up for the upcoming state Assembly polls, due in September-October, too.