The first round of seat sharing talks by Congress, which had contested in 90 seats in 2006, with its main allies IUML, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) and Kerala Congress (M) remained inconclusive.
Seat sharing among partners of Congress-led UDF in Kerala is likely to be a tough task with the allies pressing for more seats for the April 13 assembly polls.
The first round of seat sharing talks by Congress, which had contested in 90 seats in 2006, with its main allies IUML, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) and Kerala Congress (M) remained inconclusive with the partners demanding more seats in the 140-member House.
IUML, a major partner of UDF, which had contested in 22 seats last time, wanted three more seats in Malappuram district, where the number of assembly constituencies increased following the delimitation exercise.
However, Congress was not ready to concede its demand holding that there was no change in the total number of seats in the state after delimitation.
IUML contended that Malappuram was its stronghold, and moreover two former MLAs Manjalamkuzhi Ali and P M A Salam, who contested last time as Independents, had joined the party.
The Congress is finding it difficult to arrive at an amicable agreement with Kerala Congress (M) led by KM Mani, another key constituent of UDF.
KC-M, which has strong presence in central Travancore region and had contested 17 seats last time, wants 24 seats now arguing that another Kerala Congress faction headed by PJ Joseph, earlier with LDF, had merged with it.
Local Congress leaders in Idukki district are angry over the unilateral declaration by Mani that Joseph, who was a minister in the present LDF government, would be the candidate in Thodupuzha constituency.
Joseph was also in the centre of a controversy a few years ago after he allegedly misbehaved with a woman passenger during a flight from Chennai to Kochi.
JSS led by KG Gowary Amma, which had contested five seats last time, might settle for four seats this time.
Congress would also have to find seats for Socialist Janata (Democratic) led by MP Veerendrakumar, a new entrant to the Front, either from the Congress quota or from the seats alloted to partners.
Kerala Congress led by R Balakrishna Pilla, who is now in jail after being convicted in a graft case, Kerala Congress faction led by TM Jacob and CMP led by MV Raghavan are the other parnters of UDF.
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