Congress confident of towering over Maharashtra allies

Internal surveys suggest that Congress could win most seats in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, which can work to their advantage in negotiating for seat sharing.

- BADAR BASHIR

As the three major parties, Congress, Nationalist ConCress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), continue their ard bargaining over seats, The grand old party seems o hold an edge in negotiaions in Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance s the multiple internal urveys suggest Congress ould pocket most seats in Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The state has 88 seats. According to the assessment based on different internal surveys, a party insider privy to the developments said, Congress party could win more than 80 seats followed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with more than 70 seats. Notably, Shiv Sena (UBT) may not be able to perform as well as the last elections where it won 56 Assembly seats.

A party insider said, "It is difficult for the Shiv Sena (UBT) to win more than 45 seats this time."