Congress–NCP (SP) Seat Talks Collapse Over North Nagpur Seats

Nagpur: Seat-sharing talks between Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) collapsed late on Monday night, forcing both parties to contest the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections independently. The NCP (SP) has decided to contest on 79 seats.According to sources, the alliance failed to materialise due to unresolved differences over seat allocation in North Nagpur. While there was an initial understanding to allot 15 seats to the NCP (SP), disagreements persisted over specific prabhags, including 2A, 7D, and 5D. Negotiations stretched late into the night, continuing until around 3am, before both sides decided to part ways.NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh said the talks broke down after the Congress refused to concede the disputed wards. "Late-night talks with the Congress have failed. They refused to leave these seats for us. We told them they cannot backtrack after signing a statement, but they did not agree, which led to the alliance breaking," Deshmukh said.Congress leaders, however, said they were unable to accommodate last-minute demands as preparations were already at an advanced stage. Congress general secretary Atul Kotecha said the party had finalised its candidates by then. "We tried to reconcile till the last minute, but the alliance did not materialise," Kotecha said.Earlier, the city presidents of the Congress and the NCP (SP) had issued a joint statement indicating their intent to contest the civic polls together. However, competing claims over North Nagpur wards eventually emerged as the sticking point.According to Deshmukh, disagreements over candidates Varsha Shyamkule, Mahendra Bhange, and Saurabh Dubey ultimately led to the deadlock.