Mumbai: The Samajwadi Party (SP) has demanded seven seats from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), out of which, the party will contest two seats from Mumbai.
Maharashtra SP president Abu Asim Azmi said that the Congress and NCP had agreed to give four seats to the SP, including Bhiwandi east, Mankhurd, Shivaji Nagar, and Aurangabad. Negotiations are still underway about the remaining three seats.
In 2014, the SP had contested the Assembly election independently.
A Congress leader familiar with the development said that a meeting was held Monday with SP leaders to discuss the proposal in the presence of senior party leaders including Mumbai chief Eknath Gaikwad and deputy leader in the Assembly Arif Nasim Khan.
Sources said that the Congress and SP will have a friendly fight in Byculla. While the SP would give the ticket to Rais
Shaikh, the Congress would field Madhu Chavan from the seat. AIMIM legislator Waris Pathan is currently representing Byculla.
The Congress leader said that the SP would be given a ticket in the Ratnagiri and Jalgaon districts, too.
When contacted, Mr Khan said that an alliance has been finalised with the SP. “We have planned to give approximately seven seats to the Samajwadi Party,” he said.
