Why MVA failed to reach final consensus on seat sharing

On Wednesday, a heated verbal exchange took place between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and Shiv Sena UBT Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, similar to the one that happened last week. Patole and the Congress were miffed over Sena UBT declaring its candidates on seats that included the ones under dispute, minutes before the scheduled joint press conference of the alliance.

Shiv Sena UBT announced candidates on Ramtek (Nagpur district), Vani (Yavatmal district), Solapur south (Solapur district), Sangola (Solapur district) and Bandra East (Mumbai), which are still under discussion.

The Sena UBT has been insisting on contesting 100 seats, while during negotiations for Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the party had insisted on contesting the highest number of seats — equal to what they used to contest while in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  However, the party could win only nine of the 21 LS seats they contested. Now Sena UBT is insisting on contesting at least 100 constituencies across the state.

“The Congress has maintained that it will not give up on seats in Vidarbha. Just because the Sena UBT wants to fight 100 seats, it cannot compromise seats where it has better chances of winning,” a senior Congress leader said.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Raut said, “Ninety nine per cent work on seat-sharing has been completed. By today evening, leaders of the three parties will hold a press conference. Shiv Sena (referring to the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray) is an experienced player, so it has to hit a century. There are expectations of people that Sena should hit a century in seats and overall victory.”

The Congress is also negotiating hard with the NCP (SP) for Chandrapur and Aheri (Gadchiroli district) seats, which are with the Sharad Pawar-led party. “If Sena is staking claims on seats that we had won, then we can also push for seats with NCP (SP) quota,” a Congress leader said.