MVA strikes a deal, Congress hit the hardest ahead of Maharashtra polls

A senior Sena leader said while 18 of the 33 seats were meant for smaller allies, the three leading coalition partners would have to take a call on dividing the other 15. “As of now, there is no consensus on the 15 seats and it will be sorted over the next two to three days,” said the Sena functionary. Around 10 of these 15 seats are from the Vidarbha region, while the rest are in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Nashik.

At a joint press conference of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), and the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Mumbai on Wednesday evening, their leaders reiterated that the MVA stood united. “We are going to fight the election as an alliance. We have cleared 270 seats till now and have agreed on a formula of 85-85-85. We will talk to our other allies tomorrow when the rest of the seats will be cleared as well,” said Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut.

The “85-85-85 formula” is seen as a major climbdown by the Congress. However, a senior Congress leader from Delhi insisted after the press conference that the seat distribution was not final yet. “We will contest 105 seats at least at any cost,” he said.

As Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) will now contest at least 85 seats, the party will become a serious contender for the Chief Minister’s post if the MVA wins the November 20 elections. The party was earlier believed to be looking to contest around 75-80 seats but has managed more during the negotiations.

The Sena (UBT), which on Tuesday night claimed that all the issues had been resolved, sprang a surprise on Wednesday morning with Raut saying the party was interested in scoring a “century” of seats. “Ninety-nine per cent of work on seat-sharing has been completed. By today evening, leaders of the three parties will hold a press conference. Shiv Sena 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,” he said.

Throughout the day, the leadership of the Congress and the Sena (UBT) continued to make different comments on their dispute, hinting that no solution had been reached. “Today, the final formula of seat sharing will be finalised in the MVA. We have left (the decision on) five seats to high command,” LoP Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress said earlier in the day.

Following the meeting on Tuesday, Raut announced that the seat-sharing agreement would be announced on Wednesday afternoon. According to sources, the three parties had agreed on 100-105 for the Congress, 90-95 for the Sena (UBT), and 75-80 for the NCP (SP). However, throughout Wednesday, the MVA leaders struggled to arrive at a consensus, delaying the announcement of the deal.

By evening, the MVA leaders including state Congress president Nana Patole and senior leader Balasaheb Thorat held a meeting with Pawar. They were later joined by Raut and Sena’s Lok Sabha MP Anil Desai. “After our discussion, where we have reached a consensus on 270 seats, Sharad Pawar told us that we should publicly announce the formula,” said Raut.