MUMBAI, Dec. 29 -- The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) is keen on joining forces with the Shiv Sena (UBT) for the BMC elections. The party has sought 50 seats but received an offer of only 15, which, however, it is seriously considering. More importantly, of the 15 seats, there are around five on which the two parties have not been able to reach a consensus, party insiders revealed. The NCP (SP) is one of the three constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which was formed with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress in 2019 to keep the BJP away from power. However, in the waxing and waning ties for the BMC polls, the Congress refused to have anything to do with the Sena (UBT) when it allied with Raj Thackeray's MNS, and chose Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) instead. Meanwhile, the NCP (SP), always considered a natural ally of the Congress, has sided with the Thackeray cousins. "The party leadership wants to remain with the Shiv Sena (UBT), as it did not get a proper response from the Congress," said a senior NCP (SP) leader. So far, three meetings have taken place between the two parties. The NCP (SP) leadership has chosen Jayant Patil, the seniormost leader, to hold talks with Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. Patil met Thackeray at the latter's Bandra residence Matoshree, where 15 seats were offered to the party. With two days left for filing nominations, the NCP (SP) is engaged in a tug-of-war with the Sena (UBT) over seats that it had won in the past or has better chances at, considering its past performances. One of these is Ward 111 where the party's former corporator Dhananjay Pisal was keen to contest. However, the Shiv Sena (UBT) made it clear that it wanted to field Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut's brother, Sandeep from there. In a huff, Pisal on Sunday joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which subsequently announced his candidature from the same seat. Mumbai NCP (SP) chief Rakhi Jadhav emphasised the point to a Marathi news channel. "Our demand is to not touch seats currently held by our sitting corporators," she said. "In any alliance, discussions should begin by respecting the existing seats of each party. It is because this basic principle is not being followed that talks have been stretched so thin." In response, Sanjay Raut said that the Sena (UBT) had conceded several seats demanded by the NCP (SP) although he refused to divulge any details of these. In the Anushakti Nagar assembly constituency too, the NCP (SP) wants to field candidates from three of the six civic wards but the Shiv Sena (UBT) has offered only one. The NCP (SP) believes it has more influence in the area than the Sena (UBT). Ever since it was formed in 1999, the undivided NCP has had a limited presence in Mumbai. The party's best tally in the BMC was 14 seats, that too in the 2007 polls. In the 2012 polls, both the Congress and the NCP contested the BMC elections together and won 65 seats (the Congress 52 and the NCP 13). In the last elections, they contested solo again, the Congress winning 31 seats and the NCP nine. With the split in the party, the NCP's position has further weakened in the city, as most of the prominent faces have defected to the Ajit Pawar faction, which is also contesting the BMC polls solo....