BJP eyes Sena’s seats, stalemate delays seat-sharing pact

Even as the Ajit Pawar faction managed to bag six seats despite having only one sitting MP, the BJP is insisting on some seats held by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The latter will probably end up ceding a couple of constituencies such as Nashik, Palghar, Hingoli and one or the other from Thane and Kalyan, and will thus be restricted to 13 seats, equal to the number of MPs it currently has. The party’s seeming failure to retain incumbents’ seats and safeguard the interests of the sitting MPs who switched loyalties during the Shiv Sena split in 2022 has created a lot of angst

MUMBAI: The BJP, in its quest to achieve its target of 45-plus seats in Maharashtra, is keen on contesting a few constituencies that are with the Shiv Sena. This has delayed the final seat-sharing pact of the ruling Mahayuti.

BJP eyes Sena’s seats, stalemate delays seat-sharing pact

Even as the Ajit Pawar faction managed to bag six seats despite having only one sitting MP, the BJP is insisting on some seats held by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The latter will probably end up ceding a couple of constituencies such as Nashik, Palghar, Hingoli and one or the other from Thane and Kalyan, and will thus be restricted to 13 seats, equal to the number of MPs it currently has. The party’s seeming failure to retain incumbents’ seats and safeguard the interests of the sitting MPs who switched loyalties during the Shiv Sena split in 2022 has created a lot of angst.

The BJP’s decision to field OBC face and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Nashik has greatly upset sitting Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse, who held a couple of meetings with CM Shinde to push for his candidature. The BJP has planned to field Bhujbal as the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) candidate. It is also eyeing Palghar and either Thane or Kalyan as part of the seat-sharing pact with the Shinde faction. Palghar MP Rajendra Gavit is a Shiv Sena leader, while both Kalyan and Thane were won by the undivided Shiv Sena in 2019.

“We are firm on claiming all the 13 constituencies held by us, including Nashik,” said a senior Shiv Sena leader requesting anonymity. “Thane and Kalyan are citadels of the Shinde camp and were known to be so even in the undivided Shiv Sena. Our party has much better chances of winning these seats than our other two allies. Palghar is represented by our sitting MP. We have two ministers and three MLAs in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, and as such we have naturally claimed the constituency.”

In Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, the BJP has plans to field union minister Narayan Rane, while in Palghar, it is planning to induct the Shiv Sena’s Palghar MP Rajendra Gavit into its fold and field him as its candidate. Originally a Congress leader, Gavit shifted to the BJP in 2014 and later switched to the undivided Sena in 2019 as a mutual understanding between the two parties. Gavit said the Palghar candidate would be announced on April 4.

The Shiv Sena source said that they were in talks with the BJP for swapping Mumbai North West with Mumbai South. The Shinde faction is also amenable to changing its Hingoli candidate, Hemant Patil, in the wake of the revolt by local BJP leaders who announced that they would not work for Patil. In return for this, the Shinde camp is insistent on Aurangabad, a traditional Sena seat. It is expected to field state minister Sandipan Bhumare from here, while the BJP is considering union minister Bhagwat Karad or state minister Atul Save for the constituency.

“Our contention during the seat-sharing talks was that our candidates stood a better chance than the BJP candidates in the constituencies where Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates are in the fray,” the leader quoted above said. “We are still pushing for 15 seats and expect the BJP to concede the demand. If the Ajit Pawar faction can get six seats despite having only one sitting MP, why can’t we get two more than our number of sitting MPs?”

With regard to Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane said he had not asked for the seat but insisted it was a BJP constituency since the BJP was in power in the district council, district bank and nagar panchayat. “So even the Lok Sabha election will be fought by us,” he said. “The others have no candidate for the constituency.”

Shinde faction leader and state minister Uday Samant, however, said that his party had staked a claim to the seat, and the decision on this would be taken in the next couple of days.