Tug-of-war ensues between BJP and its allies over Lok Sabha seats

BJP and Shiv Sena in a tussle over Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, with BJP eyeing seats held by Sena, leading to internal conflicts within the alliance.

MUMBAI: The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are at loggerheads over at least five to six Lok Sabha seats, which are held by the latter but are being eyed by its ally. While the fight over the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency is in the social media domain, other seats like Raigad, Ramtek, Nashik, Buldhana and Hingoli are also being coveted by the BJP.

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The Big Brother in the ruling alliance, the BJP has been planning to contest 30 to 32 seats in the polls, and concede 12 seats to the Shinde camp and four to the Ajit Pawar NCP faction. The Shinde faction, in its recent meeting, staked a claim to 18 seats, but the BJP, which had fought 26 seats in the 2019 LS polls, wants to fight more seats to improve its tally.

In his post on social platform X, union minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said, “Leaders from various parties have been staking claim to the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat. It is our constituency and the BJP will contest it.” Replying to this, Shinde faction leader Ramdas Kadam said, “It is our seat and we will contest it. Does the BJP want to finish all other parties and exist alone? Does it want to retain its share and at the same time grab from other’s platter? We would not accept it.” (sic) Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg is represented by Vinayak Raut, sitting MP of the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Sudhakar Kohale, the BJP’s former district president from Nagpur, recently staked a claim to the Ramtek constituency, which is represented by Krupal Tumane of the Shinde faction. “We had given the seat twice to Shiv Sena,” he said. “Now it is time for us to contest it.”

Similarly, the BJP in-charge for Nashik constituency Kedar Aaher said that the BJP would contest the Nashik constituency, as the Shinde faction did not have adequate representation there. “We will stake a claim,” he said.

According to leaders in the state unit of the BJP, they are also bargaining for Parbhani and Aurangabad. “There are better chances of victory if the BJP contests seats like Parbhani, Buldhana and Nashik, which are currently represented by the Shinde camp,” said a former BJP minister. “We are also trying to convince them that our prospects in Aurangabad will be better if we field Pankaja Munde instead of any other candidate from the Shinde faction. Ultimately, it is the BJP symbol and Modiji’s face that matters in the election, and the chances of victory go up if these seats are fought by us. The performance of the ruling alliance is more important than that of individual parties.”

The BJP is also in a tussle with the Ajit Pawar NCP over the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency represented by the BJP’s Ashok Nete. Ajit wants to field NCP candidate and state minister Dharmarao Baba Atram from here.

The BJP is also eyeing the Osmanabad and Parbhani constituencies, currently represented by the Thackeray faction’s Omraje Nimbalkar and Sanjay Jadhav respectively. The Shinde faction has staked a claim to them, claiming that they were seats conceded to the undivided Sena in 2019.

“We fought 22 seats in 2019, and if they are giving us only 12 now, it is not acceptable,” said Gajanan Kirtikar, the Shinde faction’s sitting MP from North-West Mumbai. “We have 13 sitting MPs, and it is the responsibility of the leadership to safeguard their interest. It is a question of the confidence shown by them in the leadership while walking out of the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. There is no question of giving up our sitting constituencies.”

Given the tug-of-war within the ruling alliance, none of the Maharashtra seats featured in the first list of 195 candidates announced by the BJP on Saturday. “The list of candidates has none from Maharashtra, as the BJP will have to take its allies into confidence,” said Kirtikar.