Not a day goes by when the Mahayuti alliance (BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP) is not at loggerheads over one issue or the other, be it whose name should lead the Ladki Bahin scheme or how many seats each partner is staking its claim on. In this scenario, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) took a lead over the ruling alliance on Thursday by agreeing on the allocation of over 125 seats.
However, none of the MVA partners claimed five of the 36 Mumbai seats. These are Malabar Hill, Vile Parle, Charkop, Borivali, and Mulund, which are all represented by BJP MLAs.
Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said that discussions on the remaining seats will take place in the upcoming meetings. He stated that while two to three meetings have already taken place, the seat-sharing will be completed with everyone’s consensus after the Ganesh festival.
The first meeting regarding seat-sharing within the MVA took place on August 24 and focused largely on the seats in Mumbai. Both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress party are keen on contesting more seats in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, due to the NCP (SP)’s strong strike rate in the Lok Sabha elections, the faction is pushing for some key seats across the state. A few BJP officials and leaders have already joined Sharad Pawar.
In the previous meeting, the Shiv Sena (UBT) had sought 18-20 out of 36 seats in Mumbai. They are particularly focused on the seats they won and those where multiple candidates were interested. The Congress asked for 14-16 seats, while Sharad Pawar’s faction sought five to seven seats.
Sanjay Raut recently said that a 99% consensus has been reached on the Mumbai seats. It is likely that the seats where a party has had long-standing MLAs will remain with that party. In places where MLAs have left the party, the seats are expected to go to the party with the strongest presence, according to sources.
Sources also said that former MP Imtiaz Jaleel has stated that AIMIM is keen to join the MVA. However, the opposition leader of the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve, said that AIMIM is a disruptive force and no such proposal has been made to them by the party.
