Congress: Situation changed, 2019 polls no longer a criteria for seat-sharing in MVA

Throughout Friday, state Congress’ parliamentary committee held deliberations on 22 Lok Sabha seats in the state including Ratnagiri-Sindhududrg, Thane, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Ahmadnagar, Shirdi, Nasik, Dindori, Latur, Buldhana, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Washim, Gadchiroli, Bhandara-Gondiya, Wardha, Nagpur, Ramtek and Palghar.

Six constituencies of Mumbai and Chandrapur — which was vacated by the death of Lok sabha MP and Congress leader Suresh Dhanorkar three days ago — will be reviewed later.

Sources within the MVA had earlier said that performance of 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be the base for the seat sharing talks for 2024. State Congress chief Nana Patole said that the review process of Maharashtra seats is only the first step in party’s fight to defeat the BJP.

“After completing the review process, we will be meeting the party workers. There will be direct interactions with party workers through outreach campaign, meetings and public rallies,” said Patole.

“Not only Congress workers but common citizens are against the dictatorial functioning of the BJP-led government. The decision taken by MVA leadership will be accepted by all workers,” Patole added.
Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the party was undertaking only the review process and it was not the final decision on finalising seats.

“The workers are of course enthusiastic about contesting maximum number of seats but ultimately there will be some adjustment,” said Chavan.

He said that Congress and NCP have been sharing seats till now and the Shiv Sena is a new entrant this time. “We will be certainly making few adjustments in seat sharing,” Chavan said.

Sources within the Congress said that the party will push for lion’s share in Vidarbha as the ground reports are encouraging. “Ultimately it is a direct fight between the BJP and Congress in Vidarbha. We will focus on that area as well,” a party leader said.