The Congress-NCP alliance in Gujarat unravelled on Saturday following a failure to reach an agreement over seat-sharing. While the Congress had only spared the Surat seat for its ally,the NCP has now come out with a list of eight candidates and intends to field 10 more in the state that has a total of 26 Lok Sabha seats. Though both parties seemed headed for split,they have not yet slammed the door on each other,saying a compromised could not be ruled out if their top leaders intervene. State NCP president Jayant Patel alias Bosky said the party workers were angry with the Congress as it could not even decide on the lone seat it was offering his party. First,they said they will give us Rajkot. Then they offered Ahmedabad and later decided on Surat. This is not the way we want to be treated. We have worked very hard on three seats of Dahod,Anand and Patan. In Assembly elections also,we have performed well, Patel said. Asked if his party has the wherewithal to win 18 Lok Sabha seats in the state,Patel said,We will field candidates and leave it at that. This will help us expand our base. On the other hand,the Congress termed the entire episode as unfortunate. Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia said,We were negotiating on one seat with the NCP. However,it is unfortunate they have broken the alliance.
