Cong, NCP hold parleys to formalise poll pact in Mumbai

Mumbai, Jan 10 (UNI) Hectic parleys are on between Congress and NCP, the two coalition partners in the Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra, to formalise the seat sharing adjustment for the prestigious 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (bmc) elections scheduled for February one.

Despite the hard stand taken by the coalition partners over seat sharing, political observers say both are aware that they need each other to oust Shiv Sena out of the premier municipal corporation.

The saffron party has been weakened considerably after Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray's exit and the coming polls are a good chance to wrest power of the powerful civic body, they feel.

The two sides held discussions at 'Varsha', official residence Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's residence to find out a solution to the deadlock where Congress was ready to give 65 seats to NCP while the NCP staked its claim on 70 to 75 seats.

However, Mumbai Congress president Gurudas Kamat told reporters at the city unit office that the NCP had responded positively to the Congress's proposal of 65 seats. ''There are issues pertaining to only four to five constituencies we are offering them. This will be sorted out soon,'' he added.

He said he had asked the District scrutiny committees to forward him the list of candidates selected by them by tommorrow afternoon.

The filing of nominations, which began from January eight, will continue till January 15.

So far, 26 candidates have filed their nominations in twenty constituencies in Mumbai. The prominent one includes Geeta Gawli, daughter of underworld don turned MLA Arun Gawli.

UNI