"Talks are on with the Congress for seat adjustments for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections," Mistry said in a release. He told Express Newsline that RJP president Shankersinh Vaghela had left for Delhi this morning to discuss the issue of seat adjustment with the central leadership of the Congress.

RJP sources, however, said that though still in a preliminary stage, the ongoing RJP-Congress talks on seat adjustments may throw up a workable solution agreeable to both the parties. "Both the parties may reach an understanding whereby the RJP may agree to contest 10 Lok Sabha seats with the support of the Congress and support the latter in the remaining 16 seats," the RJP sources said.Vaghela had made the tie-up offer to the Congress around a month ago, but the State leadership of the Congress kept the RJP leader guessing for quite some time. Consequently, the mood in the RJP was downbeat.

But not one to be easily browbeaten, Vaghela ultimately prevailed upon the central leadership of the Congress and convinced them about the need to enter into seat adjustments with the RJP in order to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party. Once the Congress high command was convinced, the leaders of its Gujarat unit had no option but to respond to the RJP's offer.

Besides RJP leaders Dilip Parikh and Madhusudan Mistry, who were deputed by the party to initiate seat adjustment talks with the Congress, RJP supremo Vaghela also held two rounds of talks with Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president C D Patel on the issue.

"Though talks are still at a preliminary stage, we are confident that the Congress will agree to the RJP's offer of contesting 10 seats," sources said adding, however, that "the party would remain open to the viewpoint of the Congress leaders."

Sources said the RJP might stake its claim to the Lok Sabha seats of Bharuch, Chota Udepur, Kutch, Kapwadganj, Godra, Patan, Dhandhuka, Surendranagar, Mehsana and Baroda.

"We will stake claim to these Lok Sabha seats because most of the RJP candidates who contested from these seats got 75,000 to 1 lakh votes from these constituencies in the last general elections", sources said.

Meanwhile, Vaghela has called a meeting of the members of RJP's different state working committees on June 20 where the issue of seat adjustments with the Congress will be discussed, the RJP sources revealed.