No further talks with Congress on seat allocation or swap: Sanjay Raut

Taking a reconciliatory tone, Congress veteran Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said he expected the dispute with Shiv Sena (UBT) over a few seats to be resolved amicably. The statement came soon after MVA leaders Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat and Chavan met on Thursday to take stock of the situation and differences that had emerged between the allies over nomination of candidates for Sangli and Mumbai South Central. "We discussed the current political situation. The consensus was that MVA must remain intact, and all out efforts should be made to defeat BJP,'' he said.

According to sources, the two veteran Congressmen did express strong displeasure over the manner in which UBT Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray unilaterally announced a list of candidates for the seats on which discussions were still on. Congress was keen to contest both Sangli and South Central.

However, there are indications that the Sena (UBT) is unlikely to budge. Party spokesperson Sanjay Raut told the media on Thursday that seat-sharing talks within the MVA were over and that the discussions had now moved on to the strategy that needed to be adopted.

Chavan said there were prolonged discussions at the meeting on the need for a coordination committee among the three parties for effective coordination during the Lok Sabha polls. "It has been proposed to set up a coordination committee comprising representatives of all three constituents of MVA,'' he said.

Chavan said in a day or two senior leader of the MVA will address the media, declare the final list of nominees, and unveil an action plan for the polls.