Maharashtra tug of war between Congress, MVA allies holds up Lok Sabha seat pact

Alliance insiders with knowledge of the status of the talks said that the Congress’s share of seats has come down to 16-18 constituencies, the lowest ever. In 2019, the Congress’s share was 26 constituencies and it contested 25, giving Palghar to the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. Despite several rounds of talks, the MVA parties have not been able to reach a consensus.

On Monday, well-known wrestler Chandrahar Patil from west Maharashtra’s Sangli district joined the Shiv Sena (UBT) at former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence “Matoshree” in Mumbai. Patil thanked Thackeray for “giving him the ticket” from the Sangli Lok Sabha and promised him a victory. Thackeray, in a veiled remark, said, “Who am I to give candidature to anyone if the people of Sangli have decided?”

There is now uneasiness among the Congress leadership as, with these remarks, Thackeray has staked claim on yet another Congress seat after Mumbai North West. Sangli used to be a Congress bastion. The party lost it for the first time after Independence in 2014 when the BJP bagged it. The BJP retained the constituency last time too. From the Congress, former Maharashtra CM Vasantdada Patil’s grandson and young party leader Vishal Patil is among the contenders for the ticket. In 2019, he contested for farmer leader Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana but lost after the VBA polled more than three lakh votes. Recently, senior party leader Vishwajeet Kadam too repeatedly emphasised that the seat belongs to the Congress and extended support to Patil.

But it is not just Sangli that is the bone of contention between the allies. According to Congress leaders, the Sena (UBT) proposed to field Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj from Kolhapur but has not yet said yes. “If his candidature is final, then it will be on the Congress symbol. Now to compensate Kolhapur, the demand for Sangli is being raised without realising that only the Congress can give a tough fight to the BJP in Sangli,” said a senior Congress leader.

The undivided Sena won Kolhapur and neighbouring Hatkanangle in 2019. In Hatkanangle, the MVA is likely to extend support to Raju Shetti. As a result, the Sena (UBT) is pushing to increase its footprint in west Maharashtra by demanding Sangli.

Not just Thackeray, the Congress claim on Wardha in the Vidarbha region has faced pushback from the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) also wants to contest Bhandara-Gondia, the home constituency of state Congress president Nana Patole. The VBA has staked claim on seats such as Solapur, Akola, and Amaravati, which the Congress wants to contest. Ambedkar wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday, complaining about the “lazy” attitude of the MVA, and claimed that the “lack of concurrence between the Congress and the Sena (UBT) in at least 10 seats and between the Congress, the NCP (SP), and SS (UBT) in at least five seats”.

Ambedkar claimed that during his telephonic conversation with Ramesh Chennithala, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Maharashtra in-charge, the latter shared concern about the Sena (UBT) being adamant about 18 seats that it won in 2019. He suggested that the Congress and the VBA should sit together to discuss the matter.