AAP will not affect Cong's prospects in LS polls: Thakre

MPCC president Manikrao Thakre has said the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party will not affect Congress' prospects in Maharashtra and exuded confidence that his party would get more seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections than in 2009.

"The Aam Aadmi Party will not affect the election result of Congress in Maharashtra in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and on the contrary, my party would get more seats than what we got in 2009 general elections," Thakre told reporters here.

However, Manikrao appeared to be diluted on his earlier claim of 29 seats to be given to Congress out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

When asked about his earlier equation of 29:19 seats when finally a pre-poll alliance is set between Congress and NCP, Manikrao said, "It is the jurisdiction of the high command and a committee under the chairmanship of Defence Minister A K Antony would decide if there would be any pre-poll alliance with any party across the country."

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) would send a list of probable candidates for all the 48 Lok Sabha seats by this month end for which the state Parliamentary Board meeting has been called on January 21 to finalise the list, he said.

The list would then be sent to the central scrutiny committee headed by Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, who would declare the first list of candidates by February last week, he said.

Regarding Adarsh scam, Thakre, while giving a clean chit to former state Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, said he was not guilty of any alleged wrongdoings in connection with the issue.

He also endorsed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's pitch for reconsideration of the state government's decision rejecting a judicial panel's report on Adarsh scam and said, "If the state government is wrong, it is the duty of the high command to correct it.