Mumbai: A day after Congress inducted four independent legislators, NCP on that said that it too will admit independent MLAs into its fold. Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said that some independent legislators would join the party in the coming days.
The 288-member legislative assembly has 24 independents, most of them Congress and NCP rebels who had defeated official nominess of the two parties last time. To a question about Congress' announcement that four MLAs who joined yesterday would get tickets from the same seat, Tatkare noted that these four constituencies were in the NCP's quota and warned that NCP would reciprocate such a move by its alliance partner.
Senior NCP leader Praful Patel was holding talks with Congress leaders to decide the seat-sharing formula, he said. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said he hoped that the talks with Congress would be completed in two to three days.
"Our proposal for equal seats has been put forth. There is no decision on the proposal yet," he said. Other like-minded parties in the state wanted Congress-NCP to broaden the alliance by admitting them to counter the Shiv Sena-BJP, he said. A decision about this would be taken after seat-sharing talks were over, he said. NCP would launch its election campaign with a rally in Kolhapur on September 16, Malik said, adding that joint campaign with Congress could start after seat-sharing was finalised.
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