The move comes in the wake of ongoing talks on seat-sharing for Lok Sabha with its alliance partner NCP

Even as the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are busy sorting out the issue of seat-sharing, the district unit of INC has prepared a list of its probable candidates for the general election from Baramati and Shirur, from where NCP president Sharad Pawar intends to contest.

INC's district unit president Devidas Bhansali told DNA that neither he nor the party activists wanted any alliance with NCP in the elections. "Our demand is to fight on our own," he said.

He said that the final decision on the alliance would be taken by the party high command.

NCP leader Sharad Pawar has been representing the Baramati constituency for a long time now. Pawar's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Supriya Sule will contest from Baramati while Pawar is likely to shift to the neighbouring newly carved Shirur constituency.

The NCP supremo has also indicated his intention to fight from Shirur. The INC district unit's move assumes significance in this backdrop. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) had deputed party observers to listen to the views of workers and interested candidates from the Shirur constituency.

Bhansali told that even if the alliance between two congress parties remains intact, INC would insist on contesting two out of the four Lok Sabha seats in the district. Since, the party has a sitting MP from the Pune city constituency, INC would demand either the Shirur or Maval constituency.

He said if the party fails to field a candidate from the rural constituencies of the district, its existence would be in trouble.

Meetings of the INC district unit were held in the last two days at Congress Bhavan in the city.

Party observers Nishit Vyas, an MLA from Gujarat and Rajkamal Singhaniya, an MLA from Chhattisgarh were present for the meetings. They would send a report to the party leadership.

The district unit of INC has drawn up a list of probable candidates for the Baramati, Shirur and Maval constituencies. The probables for Shirur include district unit president Devidas Bhansali, former MP Kisanrao Bankhele, MLA from the Pune Cantonment constituency Balasaheb Shivarkar and former MLA Balasaheb Dangat.

Dinesh Thite/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication