MUMBAI: The seat-sharing talks between the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance companions slowly veered again on monitor on Monday. After a tug-of-war that stretched for a very long time, the Congress has lastly agreed to concede the Vandre East and Ghatkopar West seats in Mumbai to the Shiv Sena (UBT). MVA insiders mentioned that this has diminished the variety of seats in Mumbai the place the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) are at loggerheads to 2, viz Byculla and Versova. The entire variety of disputed seats has additionally come right down to 25 from 30.
Mumbai, India – Aug. 28, 2024: Nana Patole, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray work together with media at Matoshree, Bandra in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. (Photograph by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Instances) (Hindustan Instances)
Going ahead, the MVA has additionally fastened a ultimate assembly to finish the seat-sharing settlement and if all goes in accordance with the plan, it can declare 240 meeting seats on Tuesday.
The deadlock was solved on account of casual talks between the senior leaders of the three events. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar is believed to have spoken to the Congress management to resolve the dispute. Within the absence of the state Congress management, which is in New Delhi to attend the screening committee and Central Election Committee conferences, senior Congress chief Arif Naseem Khan is coordinating with Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray.
Apart from the 2 seats in Mumbai, the Congress has additionally agreed to let go of two seats in Vidarbha to resolve the impasse between the 2 events. Nevertheless, it’s hell-bent on not conceding the Nagpur South seat to the Thackeray-led celebration. The disputed seats from Vidarbha have been Armori, Ramtek, Kamthi, Nagpur South, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Bhandara, Chimur, Aheri, Warora and Dhamangaon Railway.
Congress leaders indicated that the stress has eased in each events and they’re anticipating the remaining disagreements to be resolved within the subsequent two days. “We have conceded two seats each from Mumbai and Vidarbha, as we don’t want this to be stretched further,” mentioned a senior Congress chief. “The Sena (UBT) wants to field Uddhav Thackeray’s nephew Varun Sardesai, hence the leadership decided to hand over the Vandre East seat.”
State Congress president Nana Patole mentioned they might once more have a dialogue on Tuesday to finalise the seat-sharing pact. “The screening committee of the party has cleared candidates for 96 seats,” he mentioned. “Tomorrow we will hold talks with Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray and try to announce the first list of candidates.” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Sanjay Raut mentioned that candidates for 210 of 288 seats have been undisputed, and the lists would quickly be launched by the respective events. “210 is a large number and our talks will lead to a resolution for the remaining seats,” he mentioned.
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One other Sena (UBT) chief, speaking in regards to the 36 seats in Mumbai, mentioned that the celebration had determined to surrender two seats in lieu of the 2 Vidarbha seats they have been getting. “We will contest Vandre East and Byculla and have decided to give two seats to the Congress,” he mentioned. “The Congress will get Colaba in place of Byculla. We will come down to 18 seats and concede 15 to 16 seats to the Congress. The rest will go to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Samajwadi Party.” Curiously, there are a couple of seats equivalent to Mulund, Malabar Hill, Borivali and Vile Parle that no celebration within the MVA coalition needs to contest, revealed the chief.
Other than the altercation between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), the latter has a dispute with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP too over some seats in western Maharashtra and Marathwada. As an illustration, Patan in Satara, which has incumbent Shinde Sena MLA Shambhuraj Desai, has been claimed by each events. Khanapur and Chinchwad too are bones of competition.
The events are additionally at loggerheads over Sangola constituency in Solapur. The current induction of NCP chief Deepak Salunkhe into the Sena (UBT) has not gone down properly with the celebration, and Pawar has reportedly expressed his unhappiness about it. Salunkhe is prone to be the Sena (UBT) candidate whereas Aniket Deshmukh, grandson of former MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh, is the NCP’s selection, as Pawar shared a really cordial relationship with Ganpatrao.
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“There are a few more seats such as Anushakti Nagar, Kurla, Basmath, Kinwat, Jintoor on which both the parties have staked their claims,” added the chief. On Monday, a marathon assembly passed off between Sena (UBT) leaders and NCP (SP) leaders to clear the disagreement. Sanjay Raut and state NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil amongst different leaders attended the assembly on the Y B Chavan Centre.
The struggle between the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) over seat-sharing led to experiences within the media in regards to the latter having began a backdoor reconciliation with its former ally, the BJP. It was seen as a bid by the allies to place stress on one another. Raut, nonetheless, rubbished the experiences. “These are all planted stories and have no substance,” he mentioned. “We cannot join hands with the people who have crushed the self-respect of Maharashtra. There will be no compromise on the pride of the state. Reconciliation with the BJP is like joining hands with Aurangzeb and Afzal Khan.”
In the meantime, the Congress on Monday appointed senior chief Balasaheb Thorat as mediator or negotiator from the celebration who will meet Sharad Pawar in addition to Thackeray individually on Tuesday morning.
“The leaders are of the view that they need to do some damage control after publicly bickering against each other. This will happen only if they show unity by declaring the formula together,” mentioned a MVA insider. “Since the ruling allies are declaring their seats independently, they see it as a good opportunity to put up a united front, which will send out a positive message to the people.”