MUMBAI, JAN 31: The Congress today put the formal seal of approval on the seat adjustments undertaken with the Republican Party of India and the Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra.At a crowded press conference at the party headquarters this afternoon, Sharad Pawar, flanked by SP and RPI leaders, announced that the two parties would contest four seats each while the Congress will put up candidates in the remaining 40.He also said that he would campaign in seats being contested by the two parties and that he was certain that the arrangement would lead to an improvement in the Congress position from Maharashtra as well as help the SP and the RPI open their account in the Lok Sabha.Pawar admitted that his efforts to ensure a one-to-one contest against the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in all the 48 constituencies had failed to materialise, ``largely due to the intractabililty of the other parties in the United Front. However, keeping in view the peculiar situation in Maharashtra, this seatadjustment with the SP and RPI was taken in an attempt to keep the communal and fascist forces at bay,'' he said.SP State unit president Hussain Dalwai and city unit president Abu Hashim Azmi and RPI leader Ramdas Athawale as well as leaders of the Lal Nishan Party were present on the occasion. Pawar said the late Comrade S A Dange's United Communist Party of India had also agreed to extend support to the Congress although neither the Lal Nishan nor the UCPI would contest any seats for the moment.While the SP is contesting Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West and Thane, the RPI is putting up candidates in Akola, Amravati, Chimur and Mumbai North Central. The SP, which had also been allotted Dahanu, would however, support the CPI(M)'s candidature in the constituency, Dalwai said. Dalwai was extremely critical of attempts by certain constituents of the United Front to put up candidates against his party and said realpolitik in Maharashtra had led them to undertake this alliance with the Congress.``Ourcentral leadership gave the go ahead for it and the arrangement has been worked out accordingly,'' he added.Pawar also went into combative mode over the attack on Sonia Gandhi by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. In reply to a question, he said Thackeray's comments on Sonia were a clear violation of the EC guidelines and punishable under law. ``The Congress will not hesitate to approach the EC and the Centre to take action against the State Government and the ruling alliance if they did not desist from making personal remarks against Sonia Gandhi,'' he said.Later, Athavale admitted that the disunity in the RPI leadership had led to their having to settle for just four out out 48 seats when they had the capacity to contest and win several more.However, they hoped they would be able to work out a better arrangement at seat sharing at the next Assembly elections, he said. Pawar refused comment on all other issues, including the possibility or otherwise of a Congress-UF combine government at theCentre.``I do not know what will happen tomorrow. However, this arrangement in Maharashtra is for now to combat the present circumstances,'' he added.
