Ahead of MVA seat-sharing, Maharashtra Cong too flexes muscle, reviews 41 LS seats

At a meeting on Saturday, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole dropped a hint of the party’s expectations, saying: “The Congress has organisational strength in all constituencies. It has a large following. The people’s faith in the Congress has become stronger.”

He added that the seat allocation would be discussed when the MVA holds talks on seat-sharing, and that their goal was to defeat the BJP.

In 2019, when it fought the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the NCP, the Congress contested 25 seats, but ended up winning only one, Chandrapur. The NCP, which contested 23 seats, won four.

The combined Shiv Sena at the time was in coalition with the BJP, and won 18 of the 23 seats it contested. The BJP fought 25 seats and won 23.

However, following the June 2022 split in the Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction is left with just six MPs in the Lok Sabha (five MPs from Maharashtra and one from Daman Diu). In total, the MVA has 11 MPs at the moment.

The BJP has 23 MPs, while the Shinde Sena has 13, and the NDA enjoys the support of two Independents.

The Congress’s firm stand on seats coincides with questions being raised about party state chief Patole’s style of functioning. At least two former ministers, Vijay Waddetiwar and Sunil Kedar, are learnt to have raised the leadership issue with the AICC a fortnight ago.

The Maharashtra Congress unit is also faced with internal divisions. A section of the party led by Patole wants the party to lead the MVA, reasoning that as a “national party, the Congress should take on the role and contest the maximum number of seats”. “It cannot settle on a lesser number of seats as compared to the NCP and Shiv Sena ( UBT),” a party leader said.

Another leader said that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had lent a new confidence to party ranks, given them “a new lease of life”.

A former Congress minister also argued for a bigger role for the party, saying the party had “taken a back seat” in both power-sharing and posts earlier, despite shouldering the more “daunting task of carrying and upholding secularism”. In contrast, party leaders say, both the NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) are more “flexible” (a hint at their dalliance with the BJP).

For the Congress, the memory of 2014 is very fresh when, after the Assembly polls, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP had declared support to the BJP after the polls (while it was the single-largest party with 122 seats, the BJP was short of 23 for a majority). Ultimately, the Sena, which had won 63 seats, allied with it and the BJP didn’t need the NCP’s help.

In case of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress is wary about its ally’s attempts to woo the Muslim vote bank, which has traditionally been a Congress support base. In a possible attempt to reach out to the community, former Congress minister Naseem Khan on Monday raised the demand for reservation for Muslims in jobs and education of up to 5%.

But, the MVA partners are not speaking about seat-sharing arrangements just as yet.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar said what was clear was that they would contest together in the 2024 polls. “The final seat-sharing formula will be decided by the high command of our respective parties. Any guesses at this point do not make sense. Every party is working to maximise its presence in the state.”