Prithviraj Chavan talks tough on seat sharing with NCP

Prithviraj Chavan was speaking in a rally of farmers from Haveli taluka at Dhayri.

Praise the Lord! Prithviraj Chavan, who was in the city yesterday, performs arti at Kasba Ganapti in Kasba Peth yesterday. Pic/Krunal Gosavi.

Accenting the ‘frequent sacrifices' made by the Congress party while sharing seats with NCP, Chavan said that instead of distributing the tickets on an emotional basis, an arrangement should be reached based on winnability of candidates.

"We were losing seats in many districts due to the factionalism in Congress around 1999. However, the party is now regaining those constituencies and efforts would be made to help the party recover its lost glory in front of the fascist parties," the CM said.

Speaking on the occasion, state Congress president Manikrao Thakre said that for the general elections his party is insisting on a 29-19 formula for distribution of seats between Congress and NCP.

"In the last election the Congress party had released six seats for NCP from its own share, and constituencies were disseminated as per the 26-22 formula. Congress won 19 seats, while NCP could manage to emerge victorious in only 8 of the 22 seats. Therefore, this time the ticket distribution would be done after considering all these factors," added Thakre.

A different ball game
Meanwhile, when media persons asked the CM whether he would be interested in fighting the Maharashtra Cricket Association polls, Chavan said that so far he had only accepted the membership of the association. While discussing the issue of the Metro, the CM said that the file was with the finance department and he would take a decision after the file came to him in the next few days.