Congress says Seat sharing talks on with NCP and Uddhav in Maharashtra

Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance (Shiv Sena UBT, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) has agreed on sharing of seats in the state.

After a meeting Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that his smiling face was an indication of how the meeting went. After the mega meeting that lasted for about three hours, Raut told reporters that we are all together and will remain united. We have discussed each seat.

Meanwhile, Congress state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala said, "Maharashtra will be the first state to announce seats in the India alliance. Some people have separated from Shiv Sena and NCP, but voters are still with the Uddhav faction and NCP. We are together in the elections."

Meanwhile, Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who attended the meeting in Uttar Pradesh, said that things are going in the right direction. Describing it as a good meeting, he said, "We are on the same page, I think we are communicating very well." When asked whether there was a possibility of chemistry developing between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, he said that it was beyond his imagination. We just need to persevere and take it forward.

For the Congress, the seat-sharing discussion will not be easy, given its sour relations with several opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress. All three parties have indicated that they are ready for partnership on their own terms.

SP had demanded six seats from Congress for seat sharing in Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, which was rejected by the then party state chief Kamal Nath, who was later dismissed after the party's defeat.

In West Bengal too, Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that it is her party that can defeat the BJP in the state. Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that he has contacted Derek O'Brien, hoping something good will happen.

Congress' talks with AAP are also in limbo. The party wants four seats in Delhi and seven in Punjab, but AAP is not ready to accept this. In both Delhi and Punjab, the ruling party wants a larger share of seats. Sources said that AAP also wants to contest elections in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat.

Here in Bihar, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal have held preliminary talks. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal is not ready to compromise on less than 17 out of 40 seats in the United States. There is a possibility that RJD will also contest on 17 seats as per the formula of 2015 assembly elections. Five seats can go to Congress and one seat to CPI-ML.