Seat Sharing "Settled" In Maharashtra, On Track In UP: Congress

Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi -- an alliance of Shiv Sena UBT, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress -- have come to an understanding on the division of the state's 48 seats. After a meeting this evening, Sena's Sanjay Raut said that he was smiling was "an indicator" of how the meeting went.

"We are all together and will be united... we have discussed each and every seat," Mr Raut told reporters after the mega meeting, which went on for nearly three hours.

"We will be the first state to announce seats... The Shiv Sena May have spilt, but the people are with the Uddhav faction and the same with the NCP... We will be together for the elections," senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, the Congress's state in-charge, told NDTV.

Congress's Salman Khurshid, who attended the meeting for Uttar Pradesh, said things were going in the "right direction". "We are on the same page, I feel we could communicate very well," he added, calling it an "excellent meeting".

Asked if there was a possibility of chemistry developing between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, he said it was "beyond" his imagination.  "We just need to be firm and take it forward," he added.

For the Congress, seat sharing discussions are not likely to be a cakewalk, given its troubled relationship with a string of Opposition parties including the Samajwadi Party, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress.

All three parties have indicated that they are not open to sharing, especially the Samajwadi Party after being rebuffed in Madhya Pradesh.

The SP, which had asked for six seats in the assembly elections as a pilot run for seat sharing, was turned down by then state party chief Kamal Nath, who later was sacked over the party's rout.

In Bengal too, Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that it was her party that stands the best chance against the BJP in the state. Mr Khurshid today said they had got in touch with Derek O'Brien, "who was very gracious", and expressed hope that something might still be worked out.

In Bengal, Congress would like to have five seats. But Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made it clear that she is not ready to offer any. The matter has not been officially discussed yet.

Congress's discussion with AAP is also proving contentious. While the party wants four seats in Delhi and seven seats in Punjab, AAP is not ready to comply. In both Delhi and Punjab, the ruling party wants the bigger share of seats. AAP also wants to contest in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat, sources said.  

In Bihar, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal have conducted the preliminary talks. Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United will not settle for less than 17 of the state's 40 seats. It is likely that the RJD would also contest 17 seats in line with the 2015 assembly polls formula. Five seats can go to the Congress and one to the CPI-ML.