Praful Patel Biography

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) does not agree with the seat sharing formula which the Congress had proposed, though the party had its meeting with its senior ally. NCP revealed that the seat sharing formula of Congress will not be ‘applicable in the wake of changed condition’. There was also a proposal from Congress that Assembly polls need to be contested together. NCP has already conveyed its stand to Congress regarding the seat sharing agreement. 

NCP Leader Praful Patel said, “We have told the party that in the changed conditions, the old formula for seat-sharing cannot be applicable. We must have an equal distribution of seats.” Of the six seats won by the UPA coalition in the last Lok Sabha General Elections, NCP bagged four seats while Congress had only two in their kitty. Following the position of Congress, NCP has been demanding an equal allocation of 144 seats for its candidates to contest the elections to the 288 member Assembly.

In the 2009 Assembly polls, NCP had deployed 114 candidates against Congress 174. These two parties are running a coalition government in Maharashtra since 1999. Congress Leader and the in-charge of Maharashtra affairs A. K Anthony and Ahmad Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, met with the NCP Chief Sharad Pawar at his residence to discuss the seat sharing plan. Praful Patel was too present there in the meeting. 

It was a preliminary discussion and Congress had not given any concrete feedback to NCP as yet. The party had a broader discussion on how to face the elections in the state. Praful Patel profile in this regard has been quite vocal as he has been constantly emphasizing on the equitable distribution of the seats between the two parties. As he confirmed that the Congress will have more talks with the senior leaders of the party and there will also be more discussions among the two parties. While NCP is constantly pressurizing Congress over its demand, sources have revealed that the senior ally may not agree fully with former’s stern stand on the issue.