Amar Singh meets Pawar on tie-up in Maha for LS polls

In a bid to tie-up a seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the coming Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Sunday met NCP chief Sharad Pawar here.

The interaction was followed by a meeting Pawar had with national office bearers of his party including Praful Patel, Deepti Tripathi and Tariq Anwar, NCP sources said.

NCP leaders from the state, who have been touring various districts, had met Pawar yesterday here and conveyed their assessment of the party's strengths and weaknesses ahead of the polls.

"We are in favour of taking along the RPI factions and the Samajwadi Party with the Congress-NCP alliance," NCP leader and state Power Minister Sunil Tatkare had told reporters after the meeting.

The negotiating teams of the Congress and the NCP are expected to meet next week to discuss the seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls. NCP leaders have been demanding an equal share in the 48 Parliamentary constituencies in the state.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had fielded nominees in 27 Parliamentary seats while NCP put up candidates in 21 constituencies. Congress had won 13 seats while NCP was victorious on nine.