New Delhi: Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are set to enter into an alliance in Maharashtra ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections.
Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence in New Delhi on Sunday morning to talk about the alliance even though Pawar's party is a part of the Democratic Front (DF) government in the state along with the Congress.
After the meeting Amar Singh declared that the Samajwadi Party would support Pawar if the NCP chief is in the race to become India's prime minister after the Lok Sabha Elections.
Amar Singh also claimed that the NCP has agreed to support Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is he wished to become the prime minister.
He also added that the Samajwadi Party wants an alliance with the Congress too.
The meeting is being seen as an attempt to create a pressure group within the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
After the meeting Pawar had consultations with national office bearers of his party including Praful Patel, Deepti Tripathi and Tariq Anwar, NCP sources said.
Both Samajwadi Party and the NCP have been demanding seats from Congress outside their home turfs of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Samajwadi party also wants to contest a few seats in Madhya Pradesh.
The UPA partners have been jostling among themselves to strike a better deal in seat sharing with the dominant party, the Congress.
The Samajwadi Party has been trying to create a pressure group within the UPA before clinching a final deal on an electoral alliance with the Congress for 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday, the NCP core committee said that it was keen to have a grand alliance in Maharashtra which would include the Samajwadi Party as well.
NCP leaders from the state, who have been touring various districts, had met Pawar in New Delhi on Saturday and conveyed their assessment of the party's strengths and weaknesses ahead of the polls.
"We are in favour of taking along the RPI (Republican Party of India) factions and the Samajwadi Party with the Congress-NCP alliance," NCP leader and state Power Minister Sunil Tatkare was quoted as saying by PTI after the meeting.
The negotiating teams of the Congress and the NCP are expected to meet next week to discuss the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha Elections.
NCP leaders have been demanding an equal share in the 48 Parliamentary constituencies in the state.
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had fielded nominees in 27 Parliamentary seats while NCP put up candidates in 21 constituencies. Congress had won 13 seats while NCP was victorious on nine.
(With inputs from PTI)
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