New Delhi: After sealing the deal with NCP for poll-bound Goa, Congress is likely to announce its candidates for the state in a day or two.
The Congress is contesting 33 seats in the 40-member state Assembly while NCP will field its candidates from seven. A meeting of the Central Election Committee of the Congress was held on Tuesday to finalize candidates for the state.
The committee is headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being one of the prominent members.
The seat adjustment between the two parties in Goa could be reached only after much wrangling a few days back, while Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which was supporting the ruling alliance in Goa on Tuesday decided to withdraw from the Congress-led government ahead of Assembly polls on March 3.
MGP Central Committee, which met here yesterday, decided to ask its legislators Ramakrishna and Dipak Dhavalikar to withdraw support to the Digambar Kamat government.
MGP will either go alone or forge a pre-poll alliance with main opposition BJP, he said.
The party has two MLAs in the 40-member Assembly. The pullout by MGP will not affect the stability of the Congress-led coalition which remains in majority with 23 seats.
MGP had extended support to the Congress-led alliance after the 2007 elections.
This time NCP is contesting one seat more than the six it had fought in the 2007 Assembly elections. Initially, it was demanding 12 seats. However, Congress was keen to repeat the 2007 formula.
"There is every possibility that the alliance will take place. Talk is that Congress will contest 33 seats and NCP 07," NCP general secretary DP Tripathi said.
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