Mumbai, Sep 16 (IANS): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Deputy Maharashtra Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will hold a meeting with party legislators on Wednesday to discuss the preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections.

During the meeting on September 18, Pawar will also seek his party MLAs' feedback on how the NCP will benefit from a slew of welfare and development schemes including the much-discussed Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana.

The meeting has been scheduled at a time when Pawar is moving across the state by taking out the Jansanman Yatra to promote the MahaYuti government's schemes, and reach out to the party cadres in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

An NCP functionary on Monday confirmed that party chief Ajit Pawar will chair a meeting with legislators on Wednesday.

The meeting assumes significance especially when the chorus is growing within the party not to settle below 80 to 90 seats (for contesting polls), which were "assured" when the NCP joined hands with the BJP and the Shiv Sena and became a key ally in the MahaYuti government in July 2023.

Veteran NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal has been insisting the party gets 80 to 90 seats during the seat-sharing arrangement with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena.

Pawar, however, has been "non-committal" so far about how many seats the NCP will demand during the seat-sharing talks. However, a section of the NCP hinted that the party "will not settle for less than 60 seats".

The NCP deliberations on Wednesday would be taking place after Home Minister Amit Shah held a marathon meeting with the Maharashtra unit BJP leaders on September 8 while BJP national president J.P. Nadda on September 14 also held a meeting to review the party's preparedness up to over 99,000 booths in the state.

A large section of BJP leaders have made a strong case for the party to contest not less than 160 seats while continuing its "big brother" role.

Some BJP leaders during the meetings also insisted that the party should stake claim for the chief ministerial post after it emerges as the single-largest party in the ensuing assembly election. They were of the view that the MahaYuti will contest the Assembly election under the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s leadership but post election the BJP should be natural claimant for the CM's post if it wins more seats and emerges as the single largest party.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde -- the Shiv Sena supremo -- on Sunday claimed that his party is of the view that seat sharing should take place depending on the merit and strike rate of the parties.

Although he has not indicated the number of seats his party will demand, sources claimed that Shiv Sena is insisting on 90 seats.