Amid the seat-sharing turmoil within the ruling Mahayuti alliance, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a series of election-related meetings with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s partners in Maharashtra - CM Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) through late Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
According to sources, Mr. Shah is said to have acted ‘firmly’ with the BJP’s coalition partners and the saffron party is expected to stake claim on the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats of the total 48 in the State.
While the division is yet to be announced, leaders within the BJP, requesting anonymity, said that their party could contest on as many as 32-34 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, leaving 10 for Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction and a mere four, or even less, for the Ajit Pawar’s NCP.