The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena (UBT) contesting 21 seats, the Congress 17 and the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party 10, marking a significant pact in the electorally crucial state.
The announcement came after roughly three weeks of heated negotiations between the three parties and represented a big breakthrough for the Opposition’s Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that has struggled to close seat talks in key states in recent weeks.
The seat-sharing pact was announced in the presence of top MVA leaders – former chief ministers Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, and state Congress chief Nana Patole at Shivalaya, the south Mumbai office of Sena (UBT).
The seat talks were deadlocked for weeks over three seats – Sangli, Mumbai South Central and Bhiwandi – with the Sena (UBT) declaring its candidates for the first two seats and the Pawar faction for the third even as the Congress staked claim to all three constituencies.
{{/usCountry}}The seat talks were deadlocked for weeks over three seats – Sangli, Mumbai South Central and Bhiwandi – with the Sena (UBT) declaring its candidates for the first two seats and the Pawar faction for the third even as the Congress staked claim to all three constituencies.
{{/usCountry}}In the end, the Congress relented and gave up the seats. “We took a step back, we did not surrender,” Patole told reporters.
The contest in Maharashtra – which sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha, the second-highest after Uttar Pradesh – is crucial both for the National Democratic Alliance, which hopes to cross 400 seats, and INDIA, which aims to put up an impressive show in one province where it has strong regional leaders.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the undivided Shiv Sena contested 23 seats in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which fought 25. The Congress contested 26 seats and the unified NCP 22 seats.
The results showed a thumping victory for the Sena-BJP alliance, which won 41 out of the 48 seats. The NCP won four and the Congress one.
But the state has since then been roiled by political churning and instability, first by the Sena leaving the BJP-led alliance and joining hands with erstwhile rivals NCP and Congress, and then vertical splits in the Sena and the NCP over the last two years. The state has not seen any major election throughout this period and the Lok Sabha will be the first test for the two rival factions of the Sena and NCP, which are also squaring off against each other in the electoral field for the first time.
NDA is yet to announce its seat-sharing deal.
In the MVA, the Sena (UBT) has declared candidates for all of its 21 seats.
The NCP-SP has declared candidates on seven seats and the Congress on 13.
The MVA constituents haven’t declared candidates for 13 seats – Madha, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Raver, Jalna, Dhule, Nashik, Palghar, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai South – but will do so over the next two days and also present its manifesto highlighting Maharashtra-centric issues.
Patole said the Congress’s larger goal was to “dismiss the dictator’s government”.
“Congress leaders and workers are aware of the treatment given to our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by the present regime. We have resolved all the issues amongst ourselves and our workers should also accept the decision,” said Patole.
Sharad Pawar insisted all differences were put to rest. “We have declared the seat-sharing formula by mutual understanding.”
Thackeray agreed. “There is no harm in anyone expecting a particular seat in negotiations but MVA has finalised its formula on the basis of criteria of the probability of winning.”
The allies criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Monday launched his Maharashtra campaign with a scathing attack on the MVA. Responding to Modi’s statement in Chandrapur, where he called Sena (UBT) “duplicate” and the Eknath Shinde-led party as the original Sena, Thackeray called the CM’s party “Vasuli Sena” and Modi as the leader of “Bhrashta Janata Party”.
“If my party is not original then why did Amit Shah visit Matoshree in 2019 with the request for an alliance? BJP is a cowardly and corrupt party. Modi’s speeches are not becoming of a prime minister, and he is using the government machinery to harass the opposition,” said Thackeray. “BJP is an extortionist party which uses power in the central government to collect funds from corporates through election bonds.”
Pawar added: “I have seen many prime ministers in the past. Except Narendra Modi, no one has brought this much disgrace to this position.”
Thackeray added that while the MVA was keen on Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar joining the coalition, “he chose a different path; and even if continues to speak against us, we will not utter a single word against him out of respect”.
Several leaders are not happy with the seats the party has got in the deal.
Read here: In MVA’s poll pact, Shiv Sena (UBT) to contest on 21 seats, Congress 17, NCP 10
Congress MLA and former minister Vishwajeet Kadam openly expressed his ire and said, “I am upset.”
The BJP said it was clear it will win against the alliance.
“There was a fake smile on the confused faces of MVA leaders in press conference. World famous spokesperson Sanjay Raut tried to cover it up and fumbled while reading list of constituencies. Uddhav Thackeray praised the manifesto of Congress which has imprints of Muslim league. Battle is clear we will fight against the Tukde -Tukde gang “ said Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar.