Congress holds talks with Samajwadi Party, MVA allies, NCP and Sena (UBT)
Samajwadi Party and Maha Vikas Aghadi partners NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT). While no deal could be reached, the alliance partners put up a united front.
The Mukul Wasnik-led national alliance committee of Congress could not agree on any number with NCP and Sena (UBT), sources privy to talks said. MVA is facing a challenge because Sena (UBT) is insisting on fighting 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats while Congress is arguing for a «merit-based», seat-by-seat, approach.
Another bone of contention is Sena (UBT)'s emphasis on fighting most seats in the Mumbai Metropolitan area. The issue of inclusion of Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi was also discussed.
After the meeting, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said: «We have come out happily.
You can understand what it means. We are all together. We will fight elections together.
We have reached an agreement on all seats.» When asked about numbers, he said: «We will share with you in due course.» When asked about VBA, he said, «It was decided that Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will be included in MVA.»
The MVA meeting was followed by a meeting with SP. The Uttar Pradesh ally, however, did not convey any number and indicated that it was ready for all 80 Lok Sabha seats. When SP asked Congress about its expectation, Wasnik conveyed that Avinash Pande had just taken over as state in-charge and it would await his inputs before conveying the number to SP, sources said.
Another meeting is slated for Friday.
According to sources, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held talks with RLD's Jayant Chaudhary on Monday. RLD has staked claim over 6-9 seats.
Congress is likely to undertake discussions with Janata Dal (United) this week.
