Senior Congressman and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s resignation from the party, coupled with the spectre of a potential Congress split in Maharashtra, has cast a shadow on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the State, even as Congress leaders denied Mr. Chavan’s exit would impact the polls slated for February 27.
While senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan and Solapur legislator Praniti Shinde claimed that the Congress’s flock in Maharashtra remained united, BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said there was no need for his party to split the Congress in order to win the sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State.
Of the six seats in Maharashtra, the BJP — with 104 MLAs (in the 288 legislator Assembly) — will stake claim to three, while its allies in the government — the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena — will claim one each seat each. The Eknath Shinde-led faction has 39 legislators while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP claims to have 41 MLAs. The Shinde faction, as well as the BJP, also have the support of a number of Independents.
