Mumbai: Following the criticism from within
the party that too much ground was being conceded to NCP,
Congress on Saturday suspended the ongoing seat-sharing talks for
Mumbai municipal polls for two days.
NCP is seeking 65 seats out of 227 seats of Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
Senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat shot off a letter to
AICC president Sonia Gandhi yesterday, opposing the alliance
with NCP. Kamat reasoned that there was no need to accommodate
NCP much in Mumbai, where it has no base.
On the basis of the 2007 results, Congress wanted to
contest 170 seats, leaving 34 for NCP. However, NCP also
demanded 24 of the 99 wards where Congress had finished second
last time, plus seven where Congress had finished third.
Industries Minister Narayan Rane and Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan are reportedly keen to accommodate NCP, as
they feel alliance is needed to wrest the power from the
incumbent Shiv Sena-BJP. Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar
Singh too is in favour of the alliance.
PTI
