The RPI line has left the Congress leadership in the region a trifle perturbed.

The Congress had left (after hair-splitting discussions) three seats -- Amravati, Akola and Chimur -- out of the eleven in Vidarbha for the RPI in the 1998 elections. The RPI, then riding the wave of popular resentment against the ruling saffron combine, had registered thumping victories at all the three seats to wrest them from the BJP. The party nominees, Prakash Ambedkar, R S Gavai and Jogendra Kawade, were elected from Akola, Amravati and Chimur, respectively.

This has encouraged the party to demand a greater share of seats from Congress this time. If the Congress agrees for the same, it might spark off astrong wave of resentment in the party's rank and file.

According to information, the RPI will haggle for not less than ten Lok Sabha seats and about 40 Assembly seats for the alliance to materialise.

Gavai minced no words in pointing out that the Congress gained more from the seat arrangement last time than the RPI. ``And with Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party out of the picture with the recent souring of ties, our party will be definitely eyeing a larger share,'' he averred unequivocally.

According to local RPI sources, the party is interested in Buldana, a reserved constituency for Scheduled Castes (SC), Nagpur and the neighbouring Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency, apart from the three it already has.

Presently, former Union ministers Mukul Wasnik and Vilasrao Muttemwar are representing Buldana and Nagpur constituencies respectively while senior party leader Naresh Pugalia represents the Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency.

The RPI may also bargain for Hingoli, Usmanabad, Latur and a couple of moreseats in western Maharashtra during its talks with the Congress.

Way back in 1977, the party had wrested the Buldana Lok Sabha seat from Congress. This constituency has a sizeable Dalit population. Now the party's argument is that its clout in Nagpur and Chandrapur constituencies has increased manifold since the last several years.

At present, the faction-ridden RPI is the main opposition party, despite the Congress' presence, in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

The RPI has polled over 1.50 lakh votes from the Nagpur-Kamptee Lok Sabha constituency on several occasions in the recent past while it has consistently secured over one lakh votes in Buldana and Chandrapur. A senior RPI leader said these cut and dried statistics would form the basis of a logical argument for more seats.

The party's final decision in this regard would be taken at its national executive committee meeting to be held at New Delhi on May 11.

On the other hand, the Congress leaders are none too happy with the proposed lineof RPI's argument and would happily pitch for a reduction in its share to capitalise on the numerous shortcomings of the BJP-Sena alliance in the State.

A section of Congress leaders are already insisting that save Akola, not a single seat should be left for the RPI. In Chimur and Amravati, the Congress is confident of winning even if no pact is struck between the two.

According to them, if the RPI succeeds in bargaining for more seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it would adversely affect the poll equation of next Assembly elections as the RPI would then build up further pressure to demand more seats, which they feel would be irrational. As for Congress, which has always faced factionalism in general elections due to its failure to accommodate all sections, the chances of rebellion within the organisation will be more with such an `irrational' seats sharing, they pointed out.

All in all, both the parties seem set for a harder bargain and it remains to be seen who will have to pay the extra costto keeping the friendship alive and winning.