Journalism of Courage
The seat-sharing negotiations in Maharashtra are on — and they are getting tense.
On Saturday, leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance — the Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP)’s Sharad Pawar — held a meeting in Mumbai in a bid to break the impasse of the seat-sharing talks between them.
However, Thackeray on Friday had “said the haggling among the allies must not reach the breaking point”. State Congress chief Nana Patole also said there was a stalemate over 25 to 30 seats.
Then, on Saturday, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said “regional parties must be given their space” — a clear swipe at the Congress.
The filing of nominations will begin from Sunday. Both the ruling Mahayuti coalition and Opposition MVA alliance are yet to finalise the seat distribution.
Meanwhile, their INDIA bloc ally and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has declared candidates for five of the 12 seats he is demanding.
After the recent jolt in Haryana, where it lost to the BJP, the Congress was blamed for its “overconfidence” by allies.
The Congress now seems to be treading cautiously ahead of the coming Maharashtra polls, reports Asad Rehman.
The party is looking to do the balancing act of demanding its seats in front of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), while ensuring the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance stays intact. At the same time, it is strategising on how to prevent the ticket allocation troubles that were caused in Haryana.
Congress insiders say the party does not want to take any chance in a state where it has a strong Dalit-Muslim vote base and from where it performed well in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress got 13 seats in Maharashtra — the highest in the state — while the BJP Shiv Sena (UBT) won nine seats each.
How the talks between the MVA partners will pan out in the coming days will be closely watched.
On the topic of seat-sharing, things are moving at a faster pace in Jharkhand.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress combine in Jharkhand declared their seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections Saturday, with Chief Minister Hemant Soren saying that the INDIA bloc will fight the polls together and that the JMM and the Congress will contest 70 of the state’s total 81 seats. CM Soren indicated that the remaining 11 seats have been left for the INDIA bloc’s other allies such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left.
Assam CM and BJP’s Jharkhand in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday announced the seat-sharing deal for next month’s Assembly elections. Sarma said there was “consensus” with ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party although a few seats “remain fluid” based on candidates’ winnability factor.
Sarma said the AJSU would contest 10 of the state’s 81 Assembly seats, while two would go to the JD(U) and one to the Chirag Paswan-led LJP. The BJP will contest the rest of the seats and the party’s first list of candidates will be out within the next two days, Sarma said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his way to his home constituency of Varanasi Sunday to inaugurate developmental projects.
The PM will launch multiple airport projects across the country worth over Rs 6,100 crore, his office has said in a press release. The PM is also expected to inaugurate an eye hospital in Varanasi. He is also expected to address people after the event.
—- With PTI inputs
