BMC polls: Congress, NCP clinch deal after 'historic' talks

After days of negotiations, Congress and NCP on Tuesday finalised the seat-sharing deal for the next month's election to the Mumbai municipal corporation.

NCP would contest 58 seats, while Congress would fight on the remaining 169 seats, Maharashtra Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said after a meeting of leaders from both the parties at Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's residence here.

Chavan was reportedly keen to forge the alliance as it would not be possible for Congress alone to unseat the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, which is in power in  Mumbai corporation for the last 15 years.

At the time of the last election in 2007, the seat-sharing talks between NCP and Congress, allies at both the state and Centre, had failed at the last moment.

Chavan termed conclusion of talks today as "historic".

"Time is up for communal forces," he said, referring to Sena-BJP combine.

"It was the desire of political leadership of both the parties to end the misrule of Sena-BJP. There was pressure from people to end the misrule of Sena-led alliance in Mumbai.

People are fed up with the corruption and misrule," he said.

With the ruling partners in Maharashtra agreeing to contest the Mumbai civic body elections together, secular forces would be strengthened, Chavan said.

Both parties would retain the seats where they had won last time. The remaining would be allotted through mutual agreement, he said.

NCP leader and State PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said decision on which seat should go to which party had been taken to "80 per cent" extent.

Madhukar Pichad of NCP said after tonight's meeting, the chief minister spoke to NCP president Sharad Pawar.

"We were seeking 65 seats but Pawar told us number was not important, winning was; and Congress was a senior partner in the state coalition," he told reporters here.

Talks took a long time to conclude as NCP had initially asked for 65 seats, while Congress was not ready to concede more than 45-50.