Mumbai: Union home minister Amit Shah helped finalise the ruling Mahayuti alliance’s seat-sharing formula for the upcoming assembly elections during his two-day Maharashtra tour, according to leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP is expected to fight 155 seats, while chief minister Ekanath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will contest 85-90, and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party is expected to get around 45 seats. The three parties are expected to trade some of the seats they won in 2019 with each other in exchange for candidates.
During his tour of the state on Tuesday and Wednesday, Shah held region-wise meetings with Mahayuti leaders in Vidarbha, Marathwada, western and northern Maharashtra. In Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Tuesday, Shah met Shinde and Pawar to discuss the seat-sharing formula and sort out the disputed seats. He also met BJP leaders, including state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Pankaja Munde, to discuss the strategy for Vidarbha and Marathwada, where the party isn’t expected to do well.
According to BJP leaders, Shah has finalised the number of seats to be contested by three ruling parties. “BJP’s two allies were told to concentrate on the strike rate rather than the number of seats. We contested 164 seats in the 2019 assembly polls and have now sacrificed some of the seats. We expect the others to also compromise on some seats. For the better strike rate of the ruling alliance, Shah also asked the leaders from all three parties to exchange seats and candidates. For instance, in Sindhudurg, BJP leader Nilesh Rane may join Shinde’s Sena and contest from Kudal,” said a BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}According to BJP leaders, Shah has finalised the number of seats to be contested by three ruling parties. “BJP’s two allies were told to concentrate on the strike rate rather than the number of seats. We contested 164 seats in the 2019 assembly polls and have now sacrificed some of the seats. We expect the others to also compromise on some seats. For the better strike rate of the ruling alliance, Shah also asked the leaders from all three parties to exchange seats and candidates. For instance, in Sindhudurg, BJP leader Nilesh Rane may join Shinde’s Sena and contest from Kudal,” said a BJP leader.
{{/usCountry}}Shah has also asked BJP leaders to adopt its old policy of poaching leaders with elective merit from other parties. As part of the policy, the independent MLA from Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur, Prakash Awade, joined the BJP in Shah’s presence during his visit to western Maharashtra on Wednesday.
“During his meeting with party leaders from the Marathwada and western Maharashtra, Shah asked leaders to improve the tally in the backdrop of the Lok Sabha results. Leaders from Marathwada were told to make sure that the impact of the Maratha reservation issue subsides in the assembly polls. They were told to improve their outreach to the Maratha community to convince them with the schemes implemented by the BJP government in the state and at the Centre. In western Maharashtra, BJP leaders were asked for a better strategy to counter the impact and sympathy towards Sharad Pawar,” said another BJP leader said.
The BJP had failed to win a single seat in Marathwada, the centre of the Maratha-OBC quota stir, in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. Activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, the face of the Maratha agitation, continues to push the community’s demands, primarily for Marathas to be included in the OBC quota. He has also threatened the state government that he will field candidates in all 288 assembly seats if the demands aren’t met. OBCs, meanwhile, have opposed sharing their quota with Marathas. The BJP won only nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, down from 23 in 2019.
The ruling parties are expected to announce their first list of candidates in the first week of October.
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