Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar fly to Delhi to sort out seat-sharing trouble

Discontent among leaders of both the parties had been visible since Wednesday, following Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit.

It was earlier reported that the Sena will get only nine and the NCP barely five Lok Sabha seats to contest out of 48 in Maharashtra. (File photo)

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday rushed to Delhi by afternoon to hold seat-sharing talks, amid reports that both allies of the BJP will be limited to single digit seats in Maharashtra.

Discontent among leaders of both the parties had been visible since Wednesday, following Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit, when it was reported that the Sena will get only nine, and the NCP barely five Lok Sabha seats to contest out of 48 in Maharashtra.

Both Sena and the NCP however denied that during the meeting with Shah, a final number was decided and said it was only a preliminary discussion.

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Shinde, who was in Kolhapur, left for Delhi on Friday afternoon. Before leaving, Shinde said, “There is no reason to worry. The alliance has maintained good communication and will continue to do so with regards to seat sharing arrangement as well.”

From NCP’s side, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, state unit chief Sunil Tatkare and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel left for Delhi to continue seat sharing talks. While the leaders have maintained a brave face and remained firm on the demand for 11 LS seats, doubts are being raised as to whether the BJP will accept the demand.

“Ensuring a respectable number of seats to allies is important for the BJP as well. Both Thackeray (Uddhav) and Pawar (Sharad) have been saying that their parties were split by the BJP to control Maharashtra. Denying seats to allies will strengthen this allegation and will also send a wrong message among workers,” said a senior leader and minister from the NCP.

Till the time of writing this report, the final decision on seat sharing had not been taken.

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