Amidst continued tug of war over seat sharing issue for the October 15 assembly elections in Maharashtra, two major alliances Shiv Sena -BJP and Congress- NCP are putting efforts to keep the alliances intact. The Nationalist Congress Party Core committee has decided to go with Congress it has also decided to discuss an appropriate seat sharing formula in a meeting with Congress leaders in Mumbai tomorrow.

However, the NCP reiterated its stand of not accepting Congress’s offer of 124 seats in 288 member assembly. on the other hand, the BJP also want to negotiate with its 25 years old Ally Shiv Sena over stretched out seat sharing issue. The BJP has expressed readiness to hold fresh round of talks with Shiv Sena.

Both Congress -NCP and BJP- Shiv Sena alliances are gearing up for negotiations over the long stretched seat sharing issue for next month’s Assembly elections in Maharashtra. After its core committee meeting in Mumbai, the Nationalist Congress Party today made it clear that it wants alliance with Congress.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel informed that Congress and NCP leaders will meet tomorrow in Mumbai to finalise seat sharing. Amidst these developments, the NCP today received a major jolt as Party’s first time MLA from Jalgoan district of North Maharashtra and current State Agriculture Minister Sanjay Sawakare joined BJP today.

Giving the reason to quit NCP, Sawakare stated that top leaders of NCP deliberately overlooked issues related to his constituency and often marginalized him. It is interesting to note that NCP’s another leader from Jalgon district Gulabrao Devkar is currently lodged in jail in connection with the multi crore Gharkul scam. Sawakare’s entry in BJP is expected to boost BJP’s strength in north Maharashtra zone.