New Delhi, Sep 10 - The core committee of the Congress party met Thursday to choose the next Andhra Pradesh chief minister and discuss seat sharing with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Maharashtra assembly polls, party sources said.

'The meeting of members of the party's core committee is going on, it's mainly to discuss the succession issue in Andhra Pradesh and seat sharing arrangement with NCP in Maharashtra,' a party source told IANS Thursday evening.

The meeting is being held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence and is being attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her political secretary Ahmad Patel, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram could not attend as he is on an official tour of the US, the source added.

In Andhra Pradesh, hectic lobbying is going on for the post of chief minister after the death of Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash Sep 2.

In Maharashtra, the Congress is in alliance with NCP for the last 10 years and the seat sharing arrangement for 288 assembly seats has to be finalised as the state goes to poll Oct 13.