Congress, NCP strike alliance in Maharashtra

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance is likely to win the assembly elections in Maharashtra where polling was held Tuesday, according to IBN-Lokmat Times projections. According to these projections, the ruling Congress-NCP alliance will win 135 to 145 seats in the 288-member assembly with the Congress garnering 75-85 seats and the NCP 55-65 seats.

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Tuesday ruled out the possibility of any kind of tie-up with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as Maharashtra voted to elect its new state legislative assembly. We don't have any kind of tie-up with Raj Thackeray at present, we didn't have any in the past and won't have any in future as well, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

October 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Undeterred by opinion polls that predict a hung assembly after Tuesday's Maharashtra assembly polls, the Congress Monday said the party is confident of forming the government with its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We are confident of forming the government in Maharashtra with NCP and the performance of Congress would be much better this time.

October 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - It will be a hung verdict in Maharashtra but the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance will end with most seats while the Congress will sweep Haryana in coming assembly elections, an opinion poll Thursday said. According to the survey by Star News channel, the Congress-NCP combine ruling Maharashtra will win up to 140 of the 288 assembly seats.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) late Tuesday formally announced they will contest the Oct 13 Maharashtra assembly polls together. The Congress and the NCP will contest 174 and 114 seats respectively, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, state Congress president Manikrao Thakre and NCP leader Praful Patel told mediapersons at the Congress headquarters here.

September 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) Monday announced its second list of 40 candidates for the Oct 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. The party also finalised the names of candidates for by-election to three seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, according to an official statement here.

September 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The final decision on a Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance for next month's Maharashtra assembly elections will be taken Sunday, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Saturday. "We will take a decision, yes or no, by tomorrow," Deshmukh, a former chief minister of the state, told reporters after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi here.

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday appointed Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as chairman of the election management committee for Maharashtra polls. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi has nominated Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chairman of the election management committee for the ensuing assembly election in Maharashtra," Janardan Dwivedi, chairman of party's media department, said in a release here.

July 8th, 2009 PANAJI - Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and President of Maharashtra state unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) R. R. Patil said that his party is in favor of continuing an alliance with the Congress party in the upcoming elections to the state assembly.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Monday reaffirmed that it was in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), days after a senior leader said the party should go it alone in the Maharashtra assembly elections. "The Congress and the NCP are in alliance since 1999.

June 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A senior Congress leader has said the party should fight the assembly elections in Maharashtra alone rather than in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In the latest issue of Congress mouthpiece Sandesh, its editor Anil Shastri, who is also a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), said: A larger chunk of Congresspersons in Maharashtra want to go it alone in the coming assembly elections.

March 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After its failure to cobble a poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, the Congress party Monday stuck a deal over sharing of seats with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. 'We will fight unitedly as alliance partners in Maharashtra.

March 13th, 2009 MUMBAI - It is time for a Maharashtrian to get a stab at the prime minister's chair, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said Friday. 'There is a feeling among the people of this state (Maharashtra) that a number of states got opportunity like Andhra, Gujarat, Karnataka (to occupy the prime minister's office).

March 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said that it has finalized seat-sharing agreement with the Congress on most of the parliamentary constituencies of Maharashtra. NCP spokesperson D.P.

March 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Samajwadi Party is hopeful of working out an alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra ahead of the Lok Sabha polls though they face problems in seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh, a top Samajwadi Party leader said here Friday. Samajwadi Party state president Abu Asim Azmi said the near-collapse of talks at the central level did not mean that the doors to forge an alliance at the regional and state levels have been closed.