By IANS,
New Delhi : The final decision on a Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance for next month’s Maharashtra assembly elections will be taken Sunday, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Saturday.
“We will take a decision, yes or no, by tomorrow,” Deshmukh, a former chief minister of the state, told reporters after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi here.
Deshmukh was Friday appointed chairman of the Congress’ election committee for Maharashtra, which goes to the polls Oct 13.
At the meeting with the Congress president, Deshmukh was accompanied by Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who has been appointed chairman of the party’s campaign committee for Maharashtra. Shinde is also a former state chief minister.
Discussions are on between the Congress and the NCP for seat sharing, but Deshmukh has been advocating that the Congress should go it alone at the polls. The Maharashtra assembly has 288 seats.
In 2004, both the parties had contested the elections in alliance. The Congress had contested 157 seats and won 69, while the NCP contested 124 seats and won 71.