Aggressive NCP expansion plan worries Congress

Meanwhile, some MPs are reported to be eager to join the NCP.

An NCP office-bearer said, "Almost four senior sitting Lok Sabha MPs are in touch with the NCP leadership in the state. They have expressed eagerness to contest on an NCP ticket in the next Lok Sabha polls. They are waiting for a nod from our party."

While NCP did not disclose their names, the party indicated that the MPs hail from Vidarbha and Marathwada.

Some Congress leaders also aired apprehensions that if the allies have a pre-poll tie-up, NCP dissidents may enter the fray where official Congress candidates are fielded to undermine their chances and avenge "the betrayal", as the NCP put it, in the recent Gujarat polls in which the Congress had propped up candidates against all the NCP candidates, thus breaking the pre-poll alliance.

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