Maharashtra’s opposition party MVA will meet again to finalize seat share

Maharashtra’s opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has apparently finalized the details of seat distribution for next month’s assembly elections. An important meeting is being held today, attended by senior leaders from both sides.

The Congress and Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction, which has been locked in a deadlock over a handful of seats in Mumbai, Nashik and Vidarbha, are hoping to negotiate a way out with the good offices of veteran leader Sharad Pawar, the head of the Nationalist Side. Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the driving force behind the three-party alliance since its inception.

With his intervention, state leaders of Congress and Shiv Sena UBT had returned to the drawing board, reports said.

Hectic meetings have been going on since morning – one of the first was between Congress’s Balasaheb Thorat and Mr Pawar.

A fresh round of meetings took place between the Sena UBT and the Congress in the morning. A second round is underway.

Depending on the conclusions, an announcement is likely within the next few days, Congress chief Nana Patole said.

Yesterday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said that the MVA had reached a consensus on 210 of the 288 seats, while Nana Patole claimed the number was 96.

The two parties have been negotiating for days as Mr Patole held out for 125 seats, while the Sena (UBT) pushed for 100 seats for both the Sena and Congress, and 88 for Sharad Pawar’s party.

Then came the issue at the heart of the Congress: “Whichever party is strong and meritorious will fight in the respective constituency”.

This is why the Congress is holding on to the eight seats in Vidarbha that Mr Thackeray’s party wants. Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut has said that while there is no doubt that the Congress has a strong base in Vidarbha, “we had four to five MPs there too”.

“If we also get 1 or 2 seats, that won’t hurt,” he said.

The elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held on November 20 and counting of votes will take place on November 23. The term of the current meeting ends on November 26.