Maharashtra polls: MVA announces 85 seats to each party
In Maharashtra, the MVA coalition struggles over seat-sharing, with each party allocated 85 seats, while disputes linger over 33 contested seats.
Mumbai: Although the three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) were close to finalising a seat-sharing pact, differences erupted again on Wednesday, compelling NCP chief Sharad Pawar to step in and force the MVA leaders to wrap up their talks at the earliest. As a face-saver, the coalition declared a formula for 255 seats, by announcing 85 seats each to the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), and said the remaining seats would be announced after sorting out disputes and also consulting smaller allies.
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The announcement was jointly made by Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, state Congress chief Nana Patole and state NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil in a press conference after a number of closed-door individual and joint meetings between the three parties.
A day after making some progress on the seat-sharing formula, the MVA coalition again faced a stumbling block after claims and counter-claims were made on disputed seats. Sharad Pawar took the leaders to task for not being able to resolve the disagreement and asked them to immediately declare those seats that were not disputed. He also asked them not to take the smaller parties for granted, as the assembly elections were not going to be easy for any of the three parties, and to resolve the disputed seats by Thursday.
“We have concluded our last meeting with Pawar saheb today,” announced Raut after a joint meeting that lasted for hours at Y B Chavan Centre, Nariman Point on Wednesday evening. “Our talks have been concluded. He has asked us to declare the seat-sharing formula, following which we are declaring 85 seats for each of three parties.”
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Raut also claimed that the allies had reached a consensus on 270 seats, and the rest would be announced after taking the smaller allies in confidence. State Congress chief Nana Patole reiterated this and emphasised that the parties would fight the assembly polls as an MVA coalition.
Going by the formula of 85 seats for each of the three parties, the dispute appears to be over 33 seats. MVA insiders revealed that the conflict in the coalition is far from over, as there are several seats on which the Congress, Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) are not ready to budge.
The disagreement is not limited to one between the Congress and the Sena (UBT); the Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP) are also at loggerheads over a few seats such as Patan, Khanapur, Chinchwad, Basmath, Kinwat, Jintoor, Anushakti Nagar and Kurla. Of these, Patan and Kurla are part of the list of 65 candidates unilaterally announced by the Sena (UBT) on Wednesday evening.
Soon after, Raut clarified that the list was released erroneously. He also admitted that the list had several seats where discussions were still ongoing among the MVA partners. “Our list has names of seats such as Sangola on which a discussion is on with the PWP,” he said. “Similarly, there are seats on which talks are on with the Congress and NCP (SP). We will revise the list after concluding the discussion.”
The dispute between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) is largely over Vidarbha and Mumbai seats. The disputed seats from Vidarbha are Nagpur South, Armori, Ramtek, Kamthi, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Bhandara, Chimur, Aheri, Warora and Dhamangaon Railway. The disputed seats from Mumbai are Byculla and Versova among others while Mulund, Malabar Hill, Borivali, Vile Parle are the seats which no party in the MVA coalition is keen to contest.
As far as smaller allies are concerned, the Samajwadi Party and the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP) want five seats each, while the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has sought four seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had declared that it would not contest the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls, has sought two seats. “The MVA allies had decided to give two seats each to Samajwadi Party and PWP and one to CPI-M, which they did not accept,” said an MVA insider. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has already announced candidates for five seats: Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar, Bhiwandi East, Bhiwandi West, Malegaon Central and Dhule City.
During a meeting held on Tuesday, the MVA had decided on a formula, under which Congress was given 105 seats, the Shiv Sena (UBT) 95 seats and the NCP (SP) 84 seats. “It was a broad formula and the final figures of the three parties will remain somewhere close,” said another MVA insider.