While the Congress remained undecided on whether to form an alliance with the NCP for the state Assembly polls or not, the NCP on Sunday "offered" 164 seats to Congress. The Congress had contested the same number of seats in the 2004 Assembly polls, but is claiming more that 173 seats after its success in the Lok Sabha polls.
Senior NCP leader and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal said that his party has agreed to contest fewer seats than the Congress. "We have offered 164 seats to the Congress and we will contest only 124 seats," he said. A meeting of top NCP leaders was held at Rashtrawadi Bhavan in Mumbai to discuss the party's poll strategies. Senior leaders, including party president Sharad Pawar, Mr Bhujbal, state NCP chief R.R. Patil and party leader Arun Gujarathi were present at the meeting.
Source: Asian Age NCP offer to Cong: 164 Assembly seats
