The Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on January 9 agreed on a seat-sharing plan for the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra for the coming Lok Sabha polls.
All the three parties are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the State as well as part of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. Tuesday’s meeting also saw the MVA allies agree on inducting Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi into the MVA and the INDIA bloc.
Sources said there was a broad agreement on most of the seats but differences still persist over seven-eight seats. Another meeting is likely to resolve these differences, said a source.
“All of us, members of the MVA, have come out smiling. In these times of struggle, all of us are together. We will stay together and fight elections together,” Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut told reporters after the meeting.
“We discussed each and every seat and there is a broad consensus among all.”
Asked about the exact break-up of seats among the allies, he said, “That number will come later”.
There is no official word on the exact division, but the Congress and the Sena could contest 18-20 seats each and the NCP may get 8-10 seats.
“There is no problem and Maharashtra will be the first State to announce seat sharing,” Congress in-charge for Maharashtra, Ramesh Chenithala told The Hindu.
The National Alliance Committee of the Congress also held talks with Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) for Uttar Pradesh.
Sources said there was no discussion on the number of seats as the meeting was seen an ice-breaker between the two parties after frosty relations in the recent past because of the Congress’s refusal to share seats with the SP in the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Another meeting will be held on January 12 to discuss Uttar Pradesh seat-sharing plan.
Asked if the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) can be part of an alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Yadav said, ”There is no such thing. We have not heard from anyone except you people in the press.”
“Tuesday’s meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere and there will be another meeting on January 12,” Mr. Yadav said.
