Helpless Cong- NCP Join Hands

Facing the onslaughts of Bharatiya Janata Party through extensive poaching of its ranks and file, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have joined hands for the ensuing Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections. Both the parties will contest 125 seats each in next month's elections. NCP chief Sharad Pawar made the announcement on Monday.
Pawar announced that the seat-sharing pact between Congress and and his 20-year-old party has been finalised. As per the arrangement, 38 seats will be left for allies to contest, he tweeted. Maharashtra Assembly has 288 seats. Some seats will be exchanged with the Congress, he added.
The Congress and NCP had parted ways in 2014 after sharing power for 15 years. The two parties had contested the state elections on their own. That was Lso the first election in almost three decades when all parties in Maharashtra had fought separately. The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the state with 122 seats, while Congress had won 42 seats and NCP came close with 41 seats.
However, in recent times, the BJP has aggressively poached both the secular parties, especially NCP, leaving them almost bereft of any choice. Many of those who left have joined the BJP and a few have sought shelter with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. There is a general consensus among the political class and observers that neither Congress nor NCP can fight BJP on their own. This has forced Pawar to make reproaches and inch towards Congress.
 The strong performance of BJP led alliance government, supplemented by acute political acumen of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has ensured victory for BJP election at every level, one after another. Even Shiv Sena, the sulking ally which acted as semi-opposition for BJP for five years, is singing praise of Narendra Modi. The alliance arrangement for seats has been finalised and it is a given thing that the saffron parties are fighting together. It has left the secular camp with no other option but to jump into fray together.