Pawar may ask more seats from Cong

B D Narayankar

Pune: The gaining strength of NCP over the years and its confidence of winning seats after delimitation exercise may prompt party chief Sharad Pawar to stake more seats from ally Congress to contest Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

In 2004, the Congress had contested 26 seats, while the NCP had contested 22.

Meanwhile, both Congress and NCP have been holding internal parleys to review the changed political situation in Maharashtra's 48 constituencies stemming from delimitation exercise.

Pawar had camped in Mumbai for three days from January 22 and met district presidents, elected representatives and office-bearers of the party to review the situation in various constituencies.

"There is a possibility of exchanging some seats with the Congress considering the delimitation," NCP's state president R R Patil said. "We reviewed almost all constituencies in the three-day deliberations. The remaining ones will be discussed on February 6 in the presence of Pawar saheb."

The NCP, which is in conflict with its alliance partner -- the Shiv Sena -- in the Pune Municipal Corporation, has asked its local cadres to sort out the issue.

"Our stand is very clear. Let the local people decide what to do. They were responsible for creating the Pune pattern," general secretary and spokesperson Madan Bafna said. The Pune pattern of politics, in which the NCP and Sena had formed an alliance to wrest power from the Congress, had resulted in the NCP inviting the wrath of the Congress for violating the alliance "Dharma".