*) Maharastra ( Mumbai ): Asserting that there had been no reply from Congress on the seat-sharing for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, senior National Congress Party ( NCP ) chief Praful Patel on Saturday spoken that "we encourage an partnership but it would not be at the worth of self-esteem".

Praful Patel

"We will not have partnership with the Congress by negotiating on our dignity and respect," the Rajya Sabha member and previous union minister added.

Refusing to disclose the number of seats the NCP had wanted (polls for the 288-seat assembly are scheduled in 2  months),Praful  Patel added, "We have offered the Congress an outline and are looking forward for their response."


Various NCP members sought the party to compete on its own to excelling its possibility of acquiring more seats, he added.

Afterwards the NCP victory double the number of Lok Sabha seats than Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led party's chief's are look up  more seats for Assembly election. In Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won  2 while NCP won four seats in the state.

Leading NCP chief like deputy CM Ajit Pawar have said that NCP should either get 1/2 (144) of the seats, or it should go it seperate. In 2009, the Congress had opposed 174 seats and NCP 114.