NEW DELHI: Congress on Tuesday kept up the suspense over the fate of its
alliance with the NCP in Maharashtra, continuing with pressure tactics to
get Mr Sharad Pawar's party to cede more seats to the Congress than it did in
2004.

Though the Congress leader in charge of Maharashtra, AK Antony met Congress
president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday morning to discuss the alliance issue, the
party was silent on the outcome of the meeting. Despite the Election Commission
announcing the polling date of October 13, the Congress seems to have adopted a
strategy of wearing down its ally.

Congress has adopted a tough position on seat-sharing this time, asking the NCP
to acknowledge the changed ground realities after the 2009 general elections.
Congress had performed better, winning 17 seats to NCP's seven in Maharashtra.
It wants the 2009 assembly election formula to reflect this change.

State Congress sources indicated that they want to contest close to 180 seats. A
senior NCP leader also indicated that the party was expecting Congress to offer
it about 10 seats less than the 122 it contested in 2004.
Congress leaders are citing delimitation as the reason for having a fresh look
at the 166 (Congress)-122 (NCP) seat-sharing formula arrived at during the last
assembly polls for the 288 constituencies.

What gives Congress claims legitimacy is the NCP's poor performance in its
strongholds of Western Maharashtra and Marathwada in the general elections.
Moreover, of the 11 independents supporting the alliance' government, six have
indicated that they will fight on a Congress ticket if given the opportunity.

Party leaders indicated that a decision on the alliance matter could be expected
in a day or two, with the speculation continuing about a possible meeting
between AK Antony and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Mr Antony met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday morning to discuss the
alliance issue.
An influential section of Congress, including leaders such as former chief
minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, are in
favour of Congress contesting the elections on its own.

"If the party fights the poll on its own, it can accommodate more people and
help strengthen the party", Mr Deshmukh said in Bangalore. He also said that he
wanted Congress to replicate the party's performance in UP where it had
contested elections on its own.