Crisis, it seems, has become a constant companion of the Maharashtra unit of the Congress. Having suffered a major setback in the recent Legislative Council polls, the party leadership has sought feedback from its cadre on whether to continue the alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party for the forthcoming elections to local bodies.

"The defeat (in the council polls) was due to money and muscle power which do not last  in a democracy," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prabha Rau alleged on Saturday.

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"As part of the exercise (to collate feedback), a meeting of Congress office bearers of Amravati division was held on Friday. The party workers there were in no mood to continue the Congress-NCP alliance in the elections to the local self-government bodies," she said.

"The exercise for soliciting views from party cadre will continue for one-and-a-half months and the results will be placed before the All India Congress Committee. However, decisions about alliances rest with the party high command."

A meeting of Congress MLAs, MLCs and MPs has been convened on December 16 to discuss this issue. Admitting that the NCP is the bigger party in the alliance, Rau said: "We have the right to strengthen our base."