The NCP will have to settle for fewer seats in Mumbai than the seven it contested in the last Assembly polls, the city unit of the Congress has indicated. Also, the Congress will try and field as many Maharashtrians as possible from the city, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) President Kripashanker Singh said.

“The situation that prevailed at the time we gave seven seats to the NCP does not exist today. There is no atmosphere to give the NCP more seats,” Singh said.

If the principles followed in the 2004 polls are used again, he said, “then the NCP needs to take fewer seats than last time”. He added, however, that a way out could be arrived at through negotiations.

In the last elections, the NCP got four MLAs elected from the city. The Congress, which contested 27 of the city’s 34 seats then, won 15. Since then, delimitation has raised the total city seats to 36.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress- NCP swept all seats in Mumbai, primarily due to the presence of Raj Thackeray’s MNS, but the NCP suffered reverses overall, its statewide tally shrinking from nine in 2004 to eight in 2009. The NCP also lost Sangli and Nandurbar, where it had propped up rebels against the Congress. This has left the Congress, which won 17 seats, in a position to arm-twist the NCP.

Singh said “preference will be given to Maharashtrian candidates” while granting Congress nominations in Mumbai; factors like work done for the party, organisational abilities and elective merit will also be considered. He listed Borivali, Magathane, Dindoshi, Mahim and Dharavi as some of the constituencies from where Maharashtrian candidates could be fielded.

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