Maharashtra Congress’s refusal to indulge in negotiations with Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) over disputed Sangli and Bhiwandi Lok Sabha seats has brought seat sharing talks in the opposition front to a standstill. On Monday, a meeting was held between Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai to discuss the issues related to these disputed seats. According to sources, the Congress state leadership has conveyed that it will not indulge in negotiations on these seats. “It has been conveyed that any further discussion about these seats should be held with central leadership of the Congress as state leaders won't be able to sacrifice on these seats,”said a leader from Maharashtra Congress. While there is a stalemate between Sena UBT and Congress over who will contest Sangli seat, the NCP and Congress both are staking claim on the Bhiwandi seat. Pawar along with NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil had reached Matoshree, the residence of Uddhav, Monday evening and discussed on the issues for over two-and-a-half hours. According to sources, the two leaders discussed on the disputed seats of Sangli and Bhiwandi along with the overall seat sharing formular between the MVA alliance partners. The chiefs of the two parties are now likely to hold talks with the Congress’s central leadership in Delhi, resolve the issue of disputed seats and finalise the seat-sharing formula. Meanwhile, Sena UBT on Tuesday will officially declare its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Sena UBT Sanjay Raut said that the party has planned to decare the first list of 15-16 candidates on Tuesday. Last week, the Congress had declared its its candidates for the state. However, neither NCP nor Sena UBT declared any official list of candidates. According to the Sena functionary, the first list of Sena UBT will include the Mumbai south , Mumbai south central, Mumbai North east Mumbai northwest, Thane, Sambhaji Nagar, Shirdi, Buldhana and Hingoli seats among others. Meanwhile, Prakash Ambedkar Tuesday hinted that the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has decided to cut ties with MVA. Raut stated that the opposition promised Prakash Ambedkar four seats, which he found unsatisfactory. Ambedkar proposes to file nomination papers for the Akola Lok Sabha seat, allowing MVA to make the ultimate choice. Earlier, the Shiv Sena UBT had made a formal offer for four seats to VBA which Ambedkar had declined.
