Mumbai, February 25: The Indian National Congress party held a screening committee meeting on Monday over the selection of candidates in about 48 seats in Maharashtra for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The opposition is trying to include the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) and Communist Party of India (Marxist). After the meeting, senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said that four seats are offered to Dalit leader and founder of BBM, Prakash Ambedkar adding that he is yet to respond on it. Congress-NCP Deal in Final Stage in Maharashtra For Lok Sabha Elections 2019, No Place For MNS: Sharad Pawar.

Patil said Ambedkar, chief of Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, has demanded that RSS should be brought under law boundation. The senior Congress leader added Ramdas Athawale, who was in an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party-Congress alliance, is welcomed if he wants. Patil further added in the forthcoming elections, NCP-Congress alliance has decided to leave 8 seats for other parties in the alliance adding, "there can be 1 or 2 seats more." Maharashtra: Congress, NCP Reaches a Consensus on 40 Out of 48 Lok Sabha Seats.

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Speaking to news agency ANI, Paitl said, "We have had talks with Prakash Ambedkar 3-4 times. They have demanded that RSS need to be brought under law boundation. We're ready for that and have requested them to send us a draft. We offered Prakash Ambedkar 4 seats & he said they'll reply. There are talks of leaving 8 seats for the alliance, there can be 1 or 2 seats more. Congress & NCP have always been flexible for the alliance."

"Ramdas Athawale was in Congress earlier as well & he is welcome inthe alliance if he wants. There is no question of talks with MNS. We have had talks with Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana's Raju Shetti. CPM & Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi are there (in talks of alliance with Congress & NCP), but Ambedkar hasn't confirmed," he added.

Meanwhile, on February 18, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced this seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections. In a press conference, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis confirmed that BJP will fight on 25 while the Shiv Sena will contest on 23 seats.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2019 10:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).