Maharashtra seat-sharing jigsaw proving tricky for BJP, allies; 15 seats up in the air

Ruling alliance insiders said Nashik, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Thane, Osmanabad, Palghar, and Mumbai South were proving to be the tricky constituencies for the ruling alliance. Apart from these constituencies, candidates have not been announced for Parbhani, Aurangabad, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North Central, Raigad, Shirur, Kalyan, and Yavatmal-Washim.

The NCP has staked claim over Satara even as the BJP is planning to field its Rajya Sabha MP and Chhatrapati Shivaji’s descendant Udayanraje Bhosale. Sources said the NCP suggested Bhosale contest on its ticket but he is learnt to have declined the offer and sought a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to plead his case.

To settle the issue, the BJP has decided to retain Satara and give Nashik to the NCP, where the party is likely to field its senior leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal. But the move has reportedly not gone down well with sitting Nashik MP Hemant Godse of the Sena who has held a series of meetings with Shinde to discuss the matter.

In 2019, Palghar, which is seen as a BJP stronghold was given to the undivided Sena, whose candidate Rajendra Gavit won the seat. Sources said the BJP wants to contest the seat this time with Gavit as its candidate. But the Sena seems to be unrelenting.

The CM’s home turf of Thane is also witnessing an intense Sena-BJP fight with neither ready to relent. While the BJP believes that it has a better organisational base and its leader Ganesh Naik must contest the seat, Shinde has indicated that his close aide Ravi Phatak has already begun work there. Local BJP leaders argue Shinde must fight from the Kalyan seat, where his son Shrikant Shinde is the incumbent MP, but the Shiv Sena is keen on contesting both Kalyan and Thane.

The Sena has also questioned the BJP’s reluctance to part ways with the high-profile Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency. The party has pointed out that the seat was given to the undivided Sena in 2019. It is currently represented by Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). Ruling alliance leaders claimed that Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and state minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, both from the BJP, were looking to contest the seat.

In the Konkan region, regarded as the stronghold of the Shiv Sena, the BJP is planning to field Union Minister Narayan Rane from Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri but Shinde’s party is said to be unwilling to part ways with it. Sources said state minister Arvind Samant was eyeing the seat for his brother Kiran.

The constituencies of Aurangabad and Osmanabad in the Marathwada region, where the Maratha quota agitation is likely to be a key factor, have also emerged as bones of contention between the BJP and the Sena. Chandrakant Khaire of the undivided Sena lost in Aurangabad to AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel in the 2019 polls. In Osmanabad, all three Mahayuti partners are eyeing the seat, which is currently held by Omraje Nimbalkar of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

Though the NCP has been given Baramati, Shirur, and Raigad, the party has announced only Baramati and not named candidates for other seats because of the ongoing tussle. In Baramati, Ajit faced a challenge from Sena leader and former Purandar MLA Vijay Shivtare, who threatened to contest against Sunetra. However, on Saturday he announced his decision to support her. “I will ensure the NCP gets the highest majority from my Assembly constituency,” he said after a meeting with Shinde, Ajit, and Devendra Fadnavis, the other Deputy CM.

While the Yavatmal-Washim seat has gone to the Sena’s kitty, doubts have been raised by the BJP over the candidature of sitting MP Bhawna Gawli. Shinde has reportedly yet to take a call on whether the party will field Gawli or MLA Sanjay Rathod from the constituency.

Last week, Ajit said the seat-sharing would be finalised by March 28. However, despite a series of meetings between the allies, there seems to be no breakthrough yet.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis on Saturday said an agreement on only five to six constituencies was left and would be resolved in a couple of days. A BJP leader backed Fadnavis’s claim. “There are only five to six seats left. In other seats, challenges like change of candidates and coordination among allies are the challenges. They are also being addressed through discussions,” said the party functionary.

The BJP leader said that the candidate for the Mumbai Central seat, currently held by BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, had been withheld not due to a dispute with allies. “We have to decide on a suitable candidate,” he said, adding that it was a similar case with Mumbai North West that has been given to the Sena.

Adding to the dynamics of the seat-sharing talks is the recent entry of Mahadev Jankar’s Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) in the Mahayuti and the ongoing talks with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Fadnavis has admitted to holding meetings with the MNS chief but said a formal decision on the alliance is awaited. While Raj is said to be eyeing Mumbai South, Jankar is said to have his sights set on Parbhani.