NCP avarice for seats irks third front

MUMBAI, AUG 3: Plans of the third front sharing Lok Sabha seats with the Nationalist Congress Party NCP in the State have gone haywire ...

MUMBAI, AUG 3: Plans of the third front sharing Lok Sabha seats with the Nationalist Congress Party NCP in the State have gone haywire with the Communist Party of India CPI refusing to join hands with Sharad Pawar for not getting the 8220;due share8221;. Also displeased over the number of LS seats offered by the NCP are the Janata Dal JD and the Republican Party of India RPI.

CPI central committee member L S Karkhanis told The Indian Express that the party image was far more important than sharing of seats with the NCP. 8220;We had demanded only two LS seats, Kopargaon in western Maharashtra and any one seat from Vidarbha. But they refused. Moreover, they are stretching the talks too far,8221; he said.

Karkhanis informed that the CPI had launched an independent campaign for the LS as well as Assembly constituencies. 8220;We wanted to defeat the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party BJP alliance by contesting the elections with mutual understanding. The ball is now in their NCP8217;s court and they have to take the final decision,8221; he added.

According to Karkhanis, the NCP was reluctant to share any seat with the Peasants8217; and Workers8217; Party PWP while also denying the JD the number of seats demanded by the party. 8220;In such a case, our coalition will break even before it takes shape,8221; he said.

The CPI had demanded 16 Assembly seats including Nandgaon, Tivsa, Kinvat, Nagpur W, Bhandara, Gondia, Dharva, Vadnera, Gangapur, Beed, Akola in Vidarbha, Akole in Ahmednagar, Mazgaon, Parel, Parner and Sangamner.

Meanwhile, the RPI was successful in getting the nod for at least three LS seats 8212; Mumbai North-Central, Pandharpur and Nagpur. RPI president Ramdas Athavale said that talks for more seats were on with NCP leaders and the final decision would be made in the next four days.

However, sources in the RPI said other leaders were not happy over sharing of Assembly seats and the attitude of NCP leaders. The NCP was taking RPI for granted, which, was creating unrest within the party, they said.

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The JD, on the other hand, has convened a high level meeting on Wednesday to discuss the poll strategy in case it has to contest the polls independently. According to JD activists, the party opinion was largely in favour of sharing Assembly seats with the NCP while contesting the LS elections on its own.