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New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra is “broadly agreed” with ally Congress on power sharing issues.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel said today that a new government in the state would be formed shortly. The NCP General Secretary told reporters, “We have broadly agreed on most of the issues,”

Patel, who was present for the meeting, left midway and held discussions with his Congress interlocutor Ahmad Patel.He later drove back to Pawar’s residence and briefed NCP leaders about the deliberations.

The top NCP leadership held a meeting with party chief Sharad Pawar here last evening which was attended by Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, R R Patil and Jayant Patil.

Patel said that he had conveyed the NCP stand to Congress which is likely to be discussed with Defence Minister A K Antony, who is also incharge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra.

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) The continuing deadlock over portfolio allocation in Maharashtra between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is likely to be over in a day or two, a party official said Thursday.

“The talks (between both sides) are in the final stages. It is likely to conclude by tomorrow (Friday) or the day after,” said an NCP leader who is privvy to the developments.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Praful Patel has said that major changes in the portfolio allocation were “unlikely”.

The Congress camp said Thursday it needed more time to resolve the issue. Both camps are hesitant to reveal to the media their positions on the issue.

Senior Congress leaders A.K. Antony, party in-charge of Maharashtra, Ahamed Patel, party president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, held formal talks on portfolio allocation with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his deputy Praful Patel at Pawar’s residence here.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who was in the national capital, is reported to have participated in informal talks with Congress leaders.

Praful Patel, who held many rounds of informal talks with Congress leaders after Pawar authorised him to negotiate on the issue, said the matter would be resolved “in a couple of days”.

NCP leaders have already stated that the party would not concede important portfolios like home, finance, power and public works (PWD) that it held in the previous government.

NCP leaders reiterated that the party was ready to surrender some portfolios, which are not high-profile, to the Congress as the latter party got more lawmakers this time.

The Congress-NCP combine held on to power for the third time in the state after the Oct 13 assembly elections, but with the power ratio changed. The NCP got 62 seats, compared to the Congress’ 82.

Kolkata: It’s like a jote jolt for Congress as it’s ally Trinamool Congress have decided to field its candidates in both the Malda seats Sujapur and Goalpokhor assembly constituencies.

Trinamool Congress also did a campaign meeting at Kaliachowk and Mothabari for their candidates.

Congress won the Goalpokhor assembly seat in the 2006 assembly elections while it won the Sujapur seat more recently in the 2008 by-election.

The decision comes at a time when seat-sharing talks between Trinamool Congress and Congress for the November 7 by-elections for 10 assembly seats in West Bengal are yet to even start.

When contacted, Malda Trinamool Congress president Goutam Chakraborty said that the local unit has selected the names of Mozahar Hossain, Mosharaf Mantu and Hazi Azabul Biswas for the Sujapur assembly seat.

Chakraborty said, “We will send the names to our leader Mamata Banerjee, who will select one of them for the Sujapur seat.”

Interestingly, Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury, brother of legendary Malda Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, is keen to contest the Sujapur seat on a Congress ticket.

Lucknow: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is upset over Dalit Drama in Uttar Pradesh. Though, he inspired party leaders for such move, but he’s reportedly upset on this issue.

It’s being said that party would be setting some guidelines on the matter.

There were media reports which suggested that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was upset with the developments. However, Congress refused comment on Ms Gandhi’s reaction.

A swarm of UP leaders descended on Dalit settlements across UP on Gandhi Jayanti in bid to emulate Mr Gandhi.

But, unlike the Congress general secretary who sticks to the rudimentary fare available at Dalit homes, several of his footsoldiers made sure they were not short of any amenities or conveniences.

Some, accompanied by big bands of supporters, went to the extent of hiring their own cooks, bringing food supplies and even disposable plates to dinner.

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday sought to send a strong message to the Congress, saying the ally must accept TMC supremacy in West Bengal.

Three days after the Congress snubbed her by taking the support of the Left to clinch the mayoral post of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Mamata attacked her ally.

Addressing a rally at Bagha Jatin Park here, she said that without the blessings of the Congress top brass the developments at Siliguri could not have happened.

“We gave support to the Manmohan Singh government because of our earlier commitments (for support) and for stability. As we accepted the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre, the Congress will have to accept Trinamool’s supremacy in Bengal,” she said amidst thunderous applause.

“One cannot stop Mamata Banerjee by joining hands with the CPM. TMC is the only way in Bengal. Our friends (Congress) are greedy. May God pardon them. They have sold themselves,” she added.

Chennai: Nalini Sriharan, who’s a convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case began fasting on Monday at Vellore Central Prison.

Nalini in her petition, said she was forced to go on a fast-unto-death as all her earlier representations were ignored by the State government.

She joined Robert Pias, who began an indefinite fast on Thursday morning in the prison, demanding immediate release or mercy killing.

According to the reports, Jayakumar and Ravichandran – who are also serving their life terms in the same case, may join the indefinite fast from Tuesday.

Four persons – Murugan, Perarivalan, Santhan and Nalini – were sentenced to death in the case. Nalini’s death sentence was commuted to life on the recommendation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Meanwhile, a group of prisoners in Puzhal prison were also planning a token fast on Tuesday, expressing solidarity with Robert Pias, Nalini and the Sri Lankan refugees in Chengalpattu special camp, who began their indefinite fast on Sunday.

New Delhi: All the ministers of the country are playing their bit to support the Austerity drive, however Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor remarked about traveling in economy class as “cattle class”. The comment made by Tharoor is disapproved by the Congress by all means.

The Congress says it is very insensitive for Tharoor to make such a statement as thousands of people travel economy class everyday across the nation. The Congress also said it is for the High Command to decide whether disciplinary action will be taken against Tharoor or any clarification will be sought from him.

“We totally condemn it (Tharoor’s comments). The statement is not in sync with our political culture. His remarks are not acceptable given the sensitivity of all Indians,” AICC Spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said. “Certainly the party does not endorse it. It is absolutely insensitive. We find it unacceptable and totally insensitive,” she added.

Tharoor made a comment on Twitter, the social networking site, landing in another fresh controversy.

Mumbai: After the ongoing seat sharing discussions between Congress and NCP for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, it seems that NCP has been offered 114 seats.

The NCP had contested 124 seats in 2004 and won 71 of them. This means that the Congress should now be getting the remaning 174 seats.

The Congress has won 17 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. Meanwhile NCP leader Praful Patel, who is part of the talks, told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday that the deal would be finalized in a couple of days.

The Congress and allies had won 69 of the 164 seats they had contested last time. Its numbers swelled to 75 after Sena rebel Narayan Rane, now State Industries Minister and his supporters switched loyalties to the Congress.

The Congress is represented by Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Mumbai Congress president Kripa Shankar Singh, Mr. Rane, and Mr. Thakre.

With the loss of one of its seat to BJP in Madhya Pradesh and securing a majority in the assembly, Congress could only manage to win two seats in Gujarat. The party, however, retained its seat in Andhra Pradesh.

The loss of seat in Gujarat would have been a major turnoff for Congress since Rahul Gandhi’s revival map is this state.

Of the two seats the Congress won, it managed to retain Dhoraji and wrested the Kondinar constituency from BJP. Congress leadership in the state accepted the results were rather disappointing.

“The results of the byelections are not as per our expectations. We will undertake a detailed analysis in the coming days to see what went wrong,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Siddharth Patel said.

He added, “the results should be examined in the context of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, which showed Congress losing hold over seats where byelections were held.”

Moreover, with Mr Modi coming under pressure after the Lok Sabha elections, when BJP only managed to win 15 of the 26 parliamentary seats in the state, and the reversal suffered by the party in its stronghold of Junagarh , the bypoll results were being considered an important indicator of BJP’s and Mr Modi’s popularity.

Nagpur: Several leaders from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have their eyes set on to get the party ticket from West Nagpur. Even though a seat sharing arrangement has not been arrived yet, camping in Mumbai for this ticket has already begun.

Several Congress leaders themselves want this ticket and Sitting MLA, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, has decided to contest from South-West Nagpur. Hence, the Congress cannot refuse the seat on the grounds that it would have to deny ticket to a sitting MLA.

The names of the candidates for this seat are Umred MLA Rajendra Mulak, nephew of PMO minister Prithviraj Chavhan and textile minister Anees Ahmed.

Other players keen on this ticket are Former mayor Vikas Thakre, a protege of MP Vilas Muttemwar.

However, to complicate things for Thakre, Vilas Muttemwar’s son Vishal is also seeking a party ticket and is not averse to contesting from West Nagpur, Congress sources said.