Maharashtra Congress leaders meet Antony, discuss seat sharing

New Delhi, Sep. 15 (ANI): Maharashtra Congress leaders on Tuesday met at Defence Minister AK Antony's residence to discuss seat-sharing formula for the next month's assembly elections.

Maharashtra's Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Mumbai's Congress party Chief Kripa Shankar Singh attended the meeting.

"The strength of the party in Maharashtra will be kept in mind before taking the final decision. Both the parties the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will meet in the evening and take up things from there," Chavan said.

Senior Nationalist Congress Party leaders, including Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Maharashtra NCP chief RR Patil, are also scheduled to meet today.

Maharashtra, which is being ruled by a Congress-NCP Government, goes to polls on October 13.

In the last Assembly elections in 2004, the Congress contested 157 of the 288 seats. The NCP contested in 127 seats.

In the last Lok Sabha elections held in April-May, the Congress contested 25 of the 48 seats in the state and won 17, while the NCP got only eight of the 21 seats it contested. (ANI)