Congress may go in for tie-up with NCP, willing to offer 30 seats

Pre-poll alliance talks between the Congress and NCP for the BMC polls is underway. The Congress, which had earlier ruled out any pre-poll tie-up with its former ally for the polls, is reportedly considering offering 30 seats to the NCP.

 

Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam confirmed that the possibility of an alliance with the NCP was discussed during deliberations held by All India Congress Committee’s election observer Bhupinder Singh Hooda with the local leadership on Wednesday.

 

While Nirupam had earlier conveyed that all Congress leaders from Mumbai were against stitching up a pre-poll pact, sources said the party’s central leadership wanted to gauge the mood before taking a call on Pawar’s request.

 

Some senior Congress MLAs and former MPs reportedly conveyed to Hooda that an arrangement with the NCP would avoid “splintering of the secular vote” and bolster the party’s prospects. There are, however, others who believe that the NCP, which hasn’t even polled 10 per cent votes in the three civic elections it has contested in Mumbai so far, just wanted to “piggyback” on the Congress. In 2012, the NCP had won 14 out of 227 seats. The Congress camp says that the best it can offer to the NCP is 30 seats.