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January 15, 2009 02:32 IST
With the United Progressive Alliance starting to get its act togther ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar [Images] had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] on Wednesday over seat-sharing in Maharashtra and some other states.
The meeting took place at a time when the picture was still hazy about the alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party in politically key Uttar Pradesh [Images] with SP unilaterally announcing 52 candidates.
Pawar's meeting came close on the heels of NCP's demand that it be given 26 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra as also some 15 seats in a few other states, including Goa [Images] and Meghalaya.
This is the first meeting between Pawar and Gandhi on seat-sharing, an exercise described by NCP as preliminary in nature. Both the parties share power in Maharashtra and at the Centre and in the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress had been given 26 seats and NCP 22 in seat-sharing in the state.
The NCP is perhaps the first party which had declared that it wanted to fight the Lok Sabha elections under UPA banner. There have been problems for UPA in Bihar with Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan ruling out any tie-up with Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and announcing plans to contest all 40 seats in the state.
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