INDIA reaches ‘understanding’ for 40 Maharashtra seats, parleys for 8 still on

The Congress also held a formal meeting with ally Samajwadi Party (SP) for Uttar Pradesh.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Tuesday arrived at a general understanding for nearly 40 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra but negotiations between the three partners in the state will continue for the remaining eight seats, including the prestigious Mumbai (South) constituency, leaders aware of the development said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar at a protest of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.(PTI)

The Congress also held a formal meeting with ally Samajwadi Party (SP) for Uttar Pradesh. In the meeting, some Congress leaders suggested that the SP should take the lead if it is decided that Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party is brought on board later, said the leaders quoted above. The SP, however, is understood to have said it was not going to approach the party.

The Congress’s national alliance committee met the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the SP at the residence of panel chairman Mukul Wasnik. Former Union minister Salman Khurshid, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress veteran Mohan Prakash were among the committee members present in both the meetings, said the leaders quoted in the first instance.

According to some Maharashtra leaders present, the Sena and Congress might get 18-20 seats each and Pawar’s NCP is set to get 8-10 seats in the arrangement. Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi might get two seats and Swabhimani Paksha leader Raju Shetty, an INDIA partner, might get one seat.

The Sena, NCP and Congress comprise the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which controlled Maharashtra until its government fell in 2022 following a split in the Sena. Months later, the NCP split as well.

“You have seen this scenario. All of the members of MVA came out of the meeting smiling. You can understand the meaning. It means that MVA members- Sena, Congress and NCP -- sat down for an important meeting to discuss seat-sharing and we agreed on most points. Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan were there,” said Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

“We are together. Maharashtra will see large number of seats for INDIA. There is no difference on seat sharing. I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together. We have no qualms about seat sharing,”

Congress incharge for Maharashtra, Ramesh Chennithala, later told journalists that the meeting was very cordial and “Maharashtra will be the first state to announce the seats of the alliance.”

Two senior Congress leaders said that there was general agreement on about 40 seats but at least eight seats will require more negotiations. “The meeting was very good. We found Sena to be extremely pleasant. But in at least eight seats, we need more discussions before we can announce the seat sharing agreement. These are seats were primarily both Sena and Congress are strong,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

“We had a seatwise discussion except those eight seats where we have sitting MPs from all the three parties. The discussion was positive. However, there are seats where two parties have made their claim,” said a second Congress leader.

Mumbai (South) is among those seats. The constituency has been with the Sena for 10 years but the Congress wants to field Milind Deora, the joint treasurer of the party.

“Arvind Sawant is a Sena MP for two terms from the seat. Naturally, Sena is resisting the idea. Some of the other seats too will need extensive negotiations,” said a Shiv Sena leader.

This will be the first time when erstwhile rivals Sena and Congress will fight the Lok Sabha polls together as the MVA was formed after the 2019 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra elections.

With 48 seats, Maharashtra holds the highest number of Lok Sabha constituencies after the 80-seat strong Uttar Pradesh.

During the talks between the SP and the Congress at Wasnik’s residence, a Congress leader suggested to SP leader Ramgopal Yadav that if it came to talking to the BSP, then the SP, the local party, should negotiate first. Yadav told the Congress that they had no plan to talk to BSP and the inclusion of the BSP should be avoided, said leaders aware of developments.

After the meeting, Pandey, UP Congress chief Ajay Rai and Aradhana Mishra, one of the two Congress lawmakers in the state, sat back to draw certain parameters for demanding seats from the SP, said the leaders quoted above.

(with inputs from Faisal Malik in Mumbai)