A meeting between the Congress and the NCP here to discuss prospects of alliance for next month's Legislative Council elections ended inconclusive with both parties remaining keen to contest Solapur local self-government body constituency.
In afternoon, senior leaders from both the parties discussed the possible tie-up and seat-sharing for the biennial elections for total eight seats.
"No decision (on alliance) has been taken yet. We expect to finalise the tie-up by December 2, the date of issuance of notification for the polls. Congress' strength in all eight seats is more than NCP. We are open to discussions and are hopeful of a positive outcome," state unit Congress president Ashok Chavan told reporters.
While the Congress was represented at the meeting by Chavan, the Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and senior leader Manikao Thakre, the NCP by its state unit president Sunil Tatkare, the Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde and senior leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Jayant Patil.
According to a Congress leader, the party wants the Solapur local bodies seat while the NCP, which is currently holding the seat being represented by MLC Deepak Salunke, is firm on retaining it.
"We have 125 votes while the NCP has 90 votes in Solapur," the leader said.
The eight MLCs in the biennial elections (held once in six years) are to be elected from local self-government bodies constituency. The seats are: Nagpur, Akola-Washim-Buldhana (both in Vidarbha), Solapur, Kolhapur (western Maharashtra), Ahmednagar, Dhule-Nandurbar in North Maharashtra and two seats in Mumbai.
The outgoing members are Rajendra Mulak, Gopikisan Bajoriya, Deepak Salunke, Mahadeo Mahadik, Arin Jagtap, Amrish Patel, Ramdas Kadam and Bhai Jagtap respectively.
Congress currently represents Kolhapur, Dhule-Nandurbar, Nagpur and a seat in Mumbai while the NCP has Solapur and Ahmednagar (NCP-backed Independent).
The election for 8 MLC seats, which are to be filled by January 1, 2016, will be held on December 27.
When contacted, the state unit NCP president Sunil Tatkare said that parleys with the Congress are underway.
"We discussed at length but have not yet come to any conclusion. We are meeting again on December 2 to finalise (talks). But, we have decided in-principle to have a pre-poll alliance," he said.
