It's a deal: Congress, NCP join hands for Maharashtra Legislative Council polls

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party will contest the forthcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council polls in alliance with the Congress, a senior party leader said on Monday. The Congress and the NCP held a meeting in Nagpur earlier in the day to finalise the seat-sharing deal for the biennial elections slated for 27 December. [caption id=“attachment_216472” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Out of eight seats up for grabs, the Sharad Pawar-led party will contest three seats while the Congress four. “The NCP will contest Solapur and Ahmednagar local bodies seats. It will also field a candidate in Akola-Washim-Buldhana local bodies,” state unit NCP chief Sunil Tatkare told reporters. He announced the candidacy of Deepak Salunke and Arun Jagtap — both sitting MLCs — for Solapur and Ahmednagar seats, respectively, while the nominee for Akola-Washim-Buldhana would be announced on Tuesday. Tatkare said the Congress will contest Mumbai, Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar and Nagpur local self government bodies. In a previous round of talks in November, the negotiations between the Congress and the NCP over forging a tie-up had remained deadlocked with both parties keen to contest the elections for Solapur local self-government body. The eight MLCs in the biennial elections (held once in six years) are to be elected for local self-government bodies. The seats are: Nagpur, Akola-Washim-Buldhana (both in Vidarbha), Solapur, Kolhapur (western Maharashtra), Ahmednagar, Dhule-Nandurbar in North Maharashtra and two seats in Mumbai. The outgoing members are Rajendra Mulak, Gopikisan Bajoriya, Deepak Salunke, Mahadeo Mahadik, Arin Jagtap, Amrish Patel, Ramdas Kadam and Bhai Jagtap respectively. Congress currently represents Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar, Nagpur and a seat in Mumbai while the NCP has Solapur and Ahmednagar (NCP-backed Independent). PTI