Congress for 29 Lok Sabha seats in state Congress , Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha Seats , Lok sabha poll 2014, Congress, BJP , Mumbai, Maharashtra News.

Congress State president Manikrao demand for  for more Lok Sabha seats in state.

MUMBAI: Even as state Congress president Manikrao Thakre on Tuesday played down the demand of senior cabinet members and party leaders for more Lok Sabha seats, his party and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP appear to be on a collision course over sharing of seats in the state in the upcoming general election.

Thakre conceded there was a demand from senior cabinet members and MPs that the Congress should stake claim to more seats, but he said it was agreed that a final decision on sharing of seats would be made after deliberations with NCP leaders.

"The state parliamentary board decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls with NCP," Thakre said. "When we actually discuss the strategy for the elections, we will ask for more seats compared to the last Lok Sabha poll."

In the last polls, the Congress contested 26 seats and won 16 seats, while the NCP had contested 22 seats and won eight.

"We must insist on 29 seats and leave 19 seats for the NCP," a senior Congress minister said. "If the NCP doesn't agree, then the Congress must be ready to fight independently."

The minister said seat sharing for the Lok Sabha should be based on the outcome of the 2004 and 2009 general election and the outcome of the elections to the local bodies between 2009 and 2013.

"If we study the outcome of these polls, it will be found that the performance of the Congress across the state improved and there was scope for it to secure more seats than the last Lok Sabha polls," the minister said.

The minister said the Congress had staked its claim on Hingoli, Parbhani and Kolhapur seats. In the last election, senior NCP leader and former Union minister Suryakanta Patil was defeated from Hingoli, the NCP nominee was defeated from Parbhani, and rebel NCP nominee Sadashiv Mandlik was elected from Kolhapur and subsequently joined the Congress as an associate member.

The Congress also staked claim for the reserved Buldhana seat and a seat each from Nashik and Jalgaon districts.

"We will have to work out a new sharing formula. We are ready to exchange certain seats where we feel we will not succeed," the minister said.

A month ago, NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel said there would be no change in seat formula, but did not rule out exchange of certain seats. NCP will contest 22 seats and Congress 26, there is no need to change the seat sharing formula,'' Patel had said.

source:timesofindia

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