NCP-Congress alliance talks fail in Gujarat again

Ahmedabad, Mar 29: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar, which is in an alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra has decided to fight the polls alone in Gujarat.

The NCP will go ahead and announce candidates for all the 26 seats in the next two to three days, its state chief, Jayant Patel said. The move may translate into a straight division in the anti-BJP votes.

The NCP had sought Porbandar, Panchmahal and Gandhinagar seats as part of the seat sharing formula. Both parties have however indicated that there is still scope for an alliance as the last day to file the nominations is April 4.

While the Congress and NCP have been natural allies at the national level, they have failed to stitch up an alliance in Gujarat. In the 2004 and 2014 polls, the parties had a pre-poll alliance. In the 2004 polls, the Congress had left the Rajkot and Porbandar seats for the NCP, but the party failed to win.

In the 2017 assembly elections, talks between the two parties failed and the NCP had fielded 58 candidates in the assembly segments. The party managed to win just the Kutiyana seat.