Cong to contest assembly polls under MVA, wants seat sharing to be finalised at the earliest

Congress to contest Maharashtra assembly elections under MVA leadership with focus on coordination and early seat-sharing decisions to avoid past mistakes.

Mumbai: Buoyed by the success in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has decided to contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections as part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The decision was taken at a meeting called by the party leadership in New Delhi on Tuesday evening.

New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal during a review meeting on Maharashtra, at AICC headquarters in New Delhi, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)(PTI06_25_2024_000307B) (PTI)

Emphasising that an MVA government should be formed in Maharashtra, it was also decided that the party should get seats for the assembly polls on the basis of merit and the formula for seat-sharing should be finalised well in advance to give enough time to candidates for preparations. It was further decided to have a mechanism for coordination among the three constituents of MVA – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – so that mistakes made during the Lok Sabha polls are not repeated during the assembly election.

The meeting was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and general secretary KC Venugopal. All senior party leaders from Maharashtra including state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala and state unit president Nana Patole were present at the meeting.

“Congress will contest the elections under the MVA leadership, and an MVA government will be formed in Maharashtra. Today, we broadly discussed the policy and strategy for the same. Another meeting has been scheduled in Mumbai on July 14, when a detailed plan will be discussed and finalised,” Chennithala said after the meeting in New Delhi.

“The discussion was around the upcoming state assembly elections, basically how to face it, what difficulties were faced by the party during the Lok Sabha polls and what needs to be done to avoid a repetition. Leaders also made several suggestions which were considered by the party leadership,” said a senior Congress leader who attended the meeting.

Based on suggestions offered by party leaders, it was decided that proper coordination regarding seat sharing is necessary among the three parties. “The seat-sharing agreement should be drawn up as early as possible and not be dragged till the last moment,” the leader said, adding, “A committee comprising members from the three parties will discuss the seat sharing formula and decisions will be taken purely on electoral merit.”

Several leaders at the meeting objected to unilateral statements made by allies and insisted that it should be stopped completely, said Congress insiders. The reference here was mainly to the Shiv Sena (UBT), which had unilaterally announced candidates for two Lok Sabha seats – Mumbai North West and Sangli – in the runup to the recently concluded polls.

Some leaders also suggested that the seat sharing formula be based on performance of the opposition parties in the Lok Sabha elections, the insiders added. Congress had emerged as the number one party in the alliance by winning 13 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) with nine and eight seats, respectively.

Chennithala, however, insisted that there would be no dispute among the three opposition parties for the assembly polls and they will fight the elections unitedly.