Pune civic polls: Alliance talks with NCP collapse, NCP(SP) rushes back to Maha Vikas Aghadi

MVA leaders from the Congress, the NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) held seat-sharing discussions at a Pune hotel late on Friday. “Our relations with the Maha Vikas Aghadi are intact…our discussions have been going on,” Sule said.

“The NCP (SP) demanded that the seat from where Prashant Jagtap was elected should be given to them,” said Congress spokesperson Ramesh Iyer.

On Friday, former Pune mayor Prashant Jagtap switched sides from the NCP (SP) to the Congress after being upset over a possible alliance between the two NCP factions.

Asked if the NCP (SP) had demanded Jagtap’s seat, Sule said, “I don’t know…But we are demanding the seats which we had won in the last elections.”

A Congress leader said the party will not give up the seats held by Jagtap and his mother. “This issue will go to our state leadership,” the leader added.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the discussions between the two NCP factions have come to a standstill over the number of seats sought by Sharad Pawar’s party. “They had initially demanded 27 seats and are now seeking 23. It is impossible to give them so many seats when they have only two former corporators with them,” Yogesh Behl, Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP president, said.