Amid a stalemate in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over seat-sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, allies Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) met with Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday. Deliberations aimed at finalising a seat-sharing deal are expected to conclude in the next day or two, according to MVA sources.
Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly are scheduled for November 20, with the nomination process beginning on October 22.
Tensions among MVA allies had escalated recently, leading to a public war of words between state Congress chief Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. In response, Uddhav Thackeray urged the parties not to let the situation reach a breaking point.
Pawar remained at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai while Congress leader Naseem Khan, along with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, Anil Parab, and NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh, convened for discussions.
Senior Congress leaders from Maharashtra were also in Delhi attending a central election committee meeting.
“Talks among MVA allies are centred around 10 to 12 seats to decide which party can give a better candidate,” sources stated. Naseem Khan told PTI that discussions for building a consensus on the remaining 10 per cent of the seats were in progress. “Since Sharad Pawar is the architect of MVA, we met him and held talks,” he said.
In other developments, former MLC and Janata Dal (United) leader Kapil Patil joined Congress in Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of 99 candidates on Sunday, prompting NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto to criticise the party for endorsing dynastic politics. “Those who feel BJP doesn’t believe in dynastic politics will be embarrassed after reading the list,” he stated.
Notably, the BJP has nominated candidates with family connections to influential leaders, including Sreejaya Chavan, the daughter of former chief minister Ashok Chavan. Sreejaya will contest from Bhokar in Nanded district, a constituency previously held by her father. The BJP has also renominated Nitesh Rane, son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, from the Kankavli seat in Sindhudurg district, and Santosh Danve, the sitting MLA from Bhokardan constituency in Jalna, who is the son of former Union minister Raosaheb Danve.