Congress fails to get desired seats as Thackeray remains adamant

Rahul Gandhi criticized Congress' seat-sharing in MVA, feeling overshadowed by allies. Disputes with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP hinder negotiations.

MUMBAI: When Rahul Gandhi recently expressed his displeasure over the seat-sharing negotiations in the MVA, he was clearly indicating that the Congress’ allies had done a better job than its state leadership. The party is feeling cornered by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT); it had wanted to contest at least 104 seats but most of the seats it was eyeing are not coming its way. The allies could not finalise a seat-sharing formula even after the Congress’ negotiator Balasaheb Thorat met both Thackeray and Sharad Pawar on Saturday.

Congress fails to get desired seats as Thackeray remains adamant

Soon after Thorat left Thackeray’s residence, after requesting him to give up or exchange some of the seats, the Sena (UBT) declared candidates for three seats: Versova (Harun Khan), Vile Parle (Sandeep Naik) and Ghatkopar West (Sanjay Bhalerao). “The Congress was keen on contesting Versova, as we believe we have better candidates,” said a Congress leader. “Thackeray offered to give up the Vile Parle seat instead but we did not want it.” The Versova candidate was declared a day after the Sena (UBT) announced the name of Manoj Jamsutkar from the Byculla constituency, which again the Congress was eager to contest.

At the beginning of the seat-sharing talks, the Congress had agreed to give the Sena (UBT) more seats in Mumbai and had asked for 14 of 36 seats. But it is not getting even those. The party has already conceded Vandre East to Thackeray’s nephew Varun Sardesai. It had won the seat in 2019 but the sitting MLA Zeeshan Siddique recently defected to the NCP.

Similarly, in Vidarbha where the Congress wanted to play a big brother role, the Sena (UBT) staked its claim, and the Congress had to bargain hard for Kamthi, Dhamangaon Railway and Nagpur South. The Sena (UBT) also declared its candidate for Ramtek, after which a Congress delegation met Thackeray to convince him but to no avail. The disputes on the Armori, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Chimur seats are also yet to be resolved. Despite all this, MP Sanjay Raut from the Sena (UBT) denied that there were any conflicts.

The Congress also has conflicts with the NCP (SP). The party had wanted the Aheri seat but the NCP (SP) has declared Bhagyashree Atram as its candidate. The Pawar-led party has also got the Karanja seat from where the Congress wanted to contest.

State NCP (SP) president Jayant Patil said that state Congress leaders had tried hard. “But the decision was taken considering the current situation,” he said.