Gujarat: NCP says to contest all 26 Lok Sabha seats, says state unit president

Even as the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are contesting the upcoming polls in an alliance in Maharashtra, the Sharad Pawar-led party announced on Thursday that it would put up candidates on all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The announcement was made by state NCP president Jayant Patel (Bosky) two days after former CM Shankersinh Vaghela, who joined the party in January, said that the party would not field any candidates in the state without a seat-sharing agreement with Congress. "NCP will field candidates in all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. Candidates will also be fielded in all the (five) assembly by-elections. The list of candidates will be announced soon," Patel said in a press release.

The Congress said NCP has little presence in the state, and its decision would make little difference. "We have a national alliance with NCP, but the party has no presence here. It needs to first assess its ground situation. NCP also needs to decide whether it wants to help BJP by putting up candidates everywhere," state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

Congress sources said that over the past few weeks, NCP had staked claim for 3-4 seats in the state. The seats sought include Kutch, Gandhinagar, Porbandar, and Sabarkantha. "The NCP had submitted a couple of letters staking the claim. There was no serious discussion on seat-sharing at any point," said the source.

Party’s Trend

• At present, the NCP has a lone MLA in the 182-member assembly
• The number was 2 in the previous term, and 3 in the one before that