Congress and NCP teams led by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Praful Patel, respectively, will meet on Tuesday to discuss a 'respectful' seat-sharing formula for the assembly election.
On Sunday, the Congress had offered 124 seats, while the NCP had held firm to its demand for 144. Reports say the Congress is ready to raise its offer to 130 in a bid to save the 15-year alliance.
After a marathon meeting of the NCP crore group presided over by Sharad Pawar, Patel said: "We are keen to contest the polls with Congress, but we feel the seat-sharing formula should be respectful. Congress proposal of 124 seats is not acceptable to us and we are firm on 144 seats.''
State Congress president Manikrao Thakre told : "We feel NCP should not make it a prestige issue. Congress and NCP must contest the assembly polls together if communal forces are to be kept out of power.''
A senior Congress minister hinted that Tuesday's meeting might not be able to break the deadlock. "We believe the row over the seat-sharing formula will be resolved only after a meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. We expect Congress may increase the offer from 124 to 130 seats. If no settlement is reached on Tuesday, Gandhi and Pawar may meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to work out a new formula," he said.
On the meeting presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, Thakre said the central election committee reviewed all 288 constituencies in the state. "We have finalized a panel for 174 seats and identified nominees for 114 seats. We will take a final decision on whether to contest all the 288 seats after a meeting with NCP leaders on Tuesday," Thakre said.
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