Gujarat elections 2017: After talks with Cong fail, NCP to contest from over 100 seats

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will field candidates from over 100 seats in the Assembly elections after it failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing with the Congress.

NCP leader Praful Patel said that his party was seeking anything more than the nine seats the Congress had allotted to it in the 2012 elections.

“Our stand during talks with Congress was that we should get those nine seats, as well as some more seats. We did not press for any particular number. However, after three weeks of talks, we were told on Sunday that it is impossible to give us even nine seats,” Patel told mediapersons.

He said that party had announced its list by keeping NCP in the dark even after NCP supremo Sharad Pawar spoke with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

“The Congress has declared candidate from one of the seats where we have a sitting MLA. It has also named candidates from seats we had sought. It became clear last night that Congress does not want to talk to us or form an alliance,” he said further, accusing the Congress of failing to follow the coalition dharma. Patel said that NCP was earlier prepared to contest from 100 seats in the state, but would now put up more.