Even as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has expressed interest in settling for the seat sharing arrangement of the last Lok Sabha polls, the Congress leaders in the state are seeking re-negotiations for more seats.
As per the 2009 Lok Sabha elections arrangement, out of the total 48 Parliamentary seats the Congress had contested 26 seats, while the NCP contested 22.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar had rebuked state Congress leaders’ unilateral announcement of a new formula for seat sharing, on the grounds that only the Congress high command would make the final call.
Earlier only Maharashtra Congress chief Manikrao Thakre raised his voice for re-negotiation on seat sharing, but now even Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has joined him. CM Chavan said that the candidates of the Congress-NCP should be decided on the ability of the candidate to win seats rather than any other criteria.
Thakre said that the 2009 formula was based on 2004 poll results, and added that the Congress had improved its performance since then.
“Based on the improved performances of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, our party deserves three more seats. We have conveyed the 29:19 formula to the party high command,” said Thakre.
In 2004 the Congress had won 13 Lok Sabha seats, which increased to 17 in 2009, while in the Assembly polls it had bagged 62 seats in 2004, which increased to 82 in 2009.
Meanwhile, the NCP has been worried that there has been no rebuttal from the Congress high command in New Delhi about the state Congress leader’s demand.