New Delhi, Sept. 3: The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have resolved to undertake a joint campaign on a common manifesto for the crucial Maharashtra polls.

Building on the allies’ camaraderie from the parliamentary elections four months ago, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would be the joint campaign’s national face and NCP leader Sharad Pawar the state counterpart.

A draft of the joint manifesto has already been prepared by the Congress and handed to the NCP leadership for comment and suggestions.

“We would finalise the joint manifesto once we both agree on its contents,” NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi said here today. Once the manifesto is ready, the two parties would launch the joint campaign, he added.

The move is expected to bring the NCP closer to the parent party. Five years ago, the bitter contestants had reluctantly come together to form the Democratic Front government following a hung verdict in the 1999 Assembly polls.

Subsequently, they became willing partners in the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre this May after fighting the parliamentary elections together in Maharashtra.

The Congress leaders involved in the preparatory work on the October Assembly polls conceded that their state alliance would have to project Pawar as its leader so that both parties can cash in on his stature in the state.

“Unfortunately, we (the Congress) do not have a state leader who has a public stature all over Maharashtra. Only Pawar can provide that to the alliance,” said a former chief minister of a neighbouring state.

Indications are that Sonia and Pawar would launch the joint campaign for the alliance.

Their campaign is considered by both camps as the best bet to minimise the threat of rebel Congress and NCP candidates entering the election fray against official nominees, a Congress poll manager said.

In the Lok Sabha polls, Sonia and Pawar had made a symbolic gesture of joint campaigning by sharing the platform at one rally. “We are ready to do whatever is necessary to maximise secular unity to take on the Shiv Sena-BJP challenge in the elections,” Tripathi said.

In Mumbai, the two parties are currently negotiating a seat-sharing agreement. Sources in the Congress said a breakthrough in this regard was imminent.

Congress leaders said the party might have to be content with around 150 of the 288 seats though its negotiators were bargaining for 160.

The NCP, they believe, would have to settle for around 100 seats. The remaining seats would go to smaller allies like the RPI, Janata Dal (S) and around a dozen Independents.