Praful Patel Biography

The 2014 Lok Sabha General Assembly Election has not been as desirable for the UPA Government as it was expected it to be. It is only after the election Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has lodged their demand of equal sharing of seats in the state. The party which has contested 114 seats in 2009, this time wants 144 seats out of 288. 

Senior NCP Leader Praful Patel said that this Saturday that his party would be forced to contest 288 seats in the state in the upcoming Assembly. Patel who was in Mumbai had expressed his disappointment over Congress’s failure to hold the seat sharing negotiations when there is only two months left for the State Assembly Elections. As Patel said, “The NCP has already conveyed to the Congress the number of seats we expect. It is very clear we are not going to settle for 114 seats. But to date, we have not heard anything from the Congress.”

The NCP which is under pressure from a fraction within the party to contest all the 288 seats, wants the senior ally to come to terms with the basic reality. Their primary argument is that in the 16th Lok Sabha Elections, NCP has won four seats in the state as opposed to Congress who has won only two. Not only so, NCP has also fared well than that of the Congress at the successive zilla parishad and council elections. 

NCP President Sharad Pawar is eager on the alliance while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar wishes the party to contest this election alone without any further alliance. In the Lok Sabha Polls, the Congress and the NCP together had been able to lead in only 44 seats out of 288 seats. 

However, a state Congress has rejected the demands of NCP of equitable sharing of seats as ‘impractical’. The committee is presided over by senior leaders like state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre, former Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, campaign committee chief and Industries Minister Narayan Rane former chief minister Ashok Chavan and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. 

On the other hand, Congress is not willing to release more than 120 to 124 seats. However, both the parties Congress and NCP were in the view that their top leadership would have to reconcile to the political situation where Narendra Modi factor could not be dismissed. With Praful Patel profile as one of the leading members of the NCP had met with Congress leader A.K Antony and Ahmed Patel, Political leader of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The meeting took place at the residence of Sharad Pawar who along with his associates is expecting an amicable decision on the whole matter. It has been further revealed that the Congress leaders had urged Sharad Pawar to lead Congress – NCP Alliance in the Assembly polls.