Common manifesto, joint war room; MVA gears up for Assembly elections

Uddhav met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and is learnt to have discussed the modalities for seat sharing and devising the campaign strategy.

Upbeat after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’s better-than-expected showing in the Lok Sabha elections, the three-party formation is working to ensure that the alliance comes out with a common manifesto and a unified campaign strategy, including setting up of a joint war room, for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The leaderships of Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP Sharad Pawar, and the Congress are keen that seat-sharing talks among the three are smooth and that local organisational compulsions don’t come in the way of the negotiations. The Shiv Sena (UBT) believes its chief Uddhav Thackeray is the automatic choice for the Chief Minister’s post if the alliance is voted to power.

Visiting Delhi for the first time since the Lok Sabha election verdict, Uddhav met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and is learnt to have discussed the modalities for seat sharing and devising the campaign strategy. He is expected to meet Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi tomorrow.

Sources in the Sena (UBT) said the party expects to get more seats than the Congress and the NCP in the seat-sharing arrangement but insisted that there is little chance of hard bargaining by the parties. One Sena leader said the party would be accommodative to the concerns of the allies as the “ultimate goal is to defeat the BJP.”

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Sources said Uddhav has had detailed discussions on seat sharing with Kharge and Rahul — he also had a meeting with Pawar — since he prefers to deal with the central leaderships of the Congress and the NCP rather than the state leaders. He also dropped hints that he was ready to be projected as the chief ministerial face.

“Maharashtra’s farmers and youngsters are fed up with the opportunistic BJP-led alliance. The 13 crore people of Maharashtra are looking towards change… If my colleagues (in MVA) feel that I have done excellent work, then ask them whether they want me as the chief minister. People will decide,” Thackeray said after meeting the Congress leadership.

“I had not dreamt of being a chief minister, nor I wanted to. But I am also not the one who runs away from responsibility. I took up the responsibility and tried to deliver to the best of my abilities,” he said after the meeting. “If my colleagues feel that I have done excellent work, then ask them whether they want me as chief minister. People will decide,” Thackeray said.

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He also met Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’Brien, AAP leader Sanjay Singh and Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha member Aditya Yadav, among others. Independent Lok Sabha member from Sangli Vishal Patil, who had defeated Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Chandrahar Patil, also met Thackeray. Vishal Patil quit the Congress party to contest the Lok Sabha elections as an independent after the Sangli parliamentary seat was given to Shiv Sena-UBT as part of the seat-sharing arrangement of the MVA coalition.

“If a mistake is committed, I am not the one who will continue to hold a grudge,” Thackeray said. He said that he was hurt as the Shiv Sena-UBT candidate lost the Sangli seat, but was happy that the BJP was defeated. Vishal Patil has aligned with the MVA and assured that the same old mistakes will not be repeated in the upcoming elections, Thackeray said. Vishal is the grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil.