Congress ready to give 15 seats to allies

Reliable sources said the Congress is considering giving away, among others, Akola, Amravati, Malegaon, Aurangabad and Mumbai South central to these parties. However, it is adamant at retaining the two reserved constituencies of Pandharpur where it has a sitting MP and Buldhana in deference to the wishes of Dalits within its own rank and file.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has concluded the interviews of prospective candidates on all 48 constituencies and the State Parliamentary Board kept up its ongoing parleys with all parties even as the focus now shifts to the Congress observers appointed to ensure as near a unanimity as possible in the decision of seats.

Senior party leaders, however, said they felt handicapped in the absence of a mutual agreement on seat sharing with the other parties as they cannot finalise their lists without knowing exactly which ones they would have to give away to their allies.

Moreover, there appears to be a dispute between the various non-Congress parties about the seats each would like to contest. For example, the Mumbai South Central seat is being claimed by both the Samajwadi Party and the Hind Mazdoor Kisan Parishad’s Sharad Rao.

It was a seat once held by trade unionist Datta Samant. Rao has a similar profile but was until recently associated with George Fernandes’ Samata Party. He recently quit the party in order to contest the Lok Sabha polls on a winning ticket in the State and is seeking support from the left and other parties including the Janata Dal for the purpose.

According to sources, there is a dispute within the JD itself over supporting Rao’s candidature apart from that with the SP over claiming the seat per se. The State JD wishes Rao to contest on its ticket rather than as an independent for it wishes to ensure that Rao will not later walk over to the BJP-led combine as he still continues to be close to Fernandes.

There is also a dispute over the Kulaba seat now held by former Chief Minister A R Antulay. Sharad Pawar states categorically that he cannot give away the seat as "I have a sitting MP here."

However, the Peasants’ and Workers’ Party which has always given Antulay a tough fight in this constituency is claiming the seat for itself as it believes it has better prospects amid reports that Antulay could hold it only with intangible support from Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The Sena is in a fighting mood over every seat this time round and political observers believe that this might reduce the chances of the sitting MP at retaining the seat for another term.

According to Chhagan Bhujbal, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, who is also involved in the process of negotiating with various secular constituents in the state, "There are some differences that still need ironing out. The final distribution of the seats are, therefore, likely to taken another two or three days."

Realpolitik is now coming into play on all sides as the non-Congress parties seem to be paring down their demands for seats and the Congress is willing to consider giving away more than initially it thought feasible. "We will still be left with at least 30 seats to contest. We will win most of those and because of the one-to-one fight with the Sena-BJP, our allies will also win most of theirs. Together we will cross the 40-mark," Bhujbal told The Indian Express.