Chavan meets Kamat & legislators; no decision yet on seat sharing

“This would be demoralising for the party cadre. A small group of ministers cannot put the party’s future in the city in danger by making such a decision without a more consultative process,” a senior Congress functionary said.

The party believes that it stands a good chance of ousting the Shiv Sena-BJP from the BMC even without a prepoll alliance,based on the belief that the Congress now has more numbers in the Assembly than in 2007 and in the hope that a stronger Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will cut into the Sena voteshare more than it did in 2007,sources said. In such a scenario,a post-poll alliance may suffice to gain control of the BMC.

Meanwhile,MPCC president Manikrao Thakre postponed an extended executive committee meeting of all senior Congress functionaries that was originally scheduled for January 9,in view of the hectic parleys still on and also apparently under pressure from senior Congress leaders — including former MPCC president Ranjit Deshmukh and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh — who have opposed the apparent submissive attitude adopted by the Congress state leadership vis-a-vis the NCP’s demands. Following the Congress being trumped by the NCP in the muniipal council polls last month,demands for accountability were also likely to be raised at the meeting.

A Congress leader said the Chief Minister would now meet district Congress presidents and senior functionaries from areas across the city to hear their views before a decision is made on the pre-poll alliance.