Mumbai/Kolhapur, Feb 21 (IANS) The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies have reached a consensus on sharing 39 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, while the sharing of the remaining nine seats is likely to be finalised by the weekend, top leaders said here on Wednesday.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar confirmed the developments in Kolhapur which were endorsed by the other allies Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders in Mumbai.
However, the three partners remain tight-lipped on what constituencies shall be contested by which ally, though there are clear indications on some seats.
At the same time, there are rumbles on certain important or high-profile constituencies, tug-of-war over the actual number of seats each MVA partner should get, based on the 2019 outcome, either as winners or runner-up.
Compared with 2019, the state political spectrum has become very crowded in 2024, with an array of parties expected to be in the fray, confounding the already confused scenario.
Two major parties have split vertically – the original Shiv Sena and the NCP, besides the parting of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and AIMIM, which were allies in the last Lok Sabha polls.
The housefull scenario includes the MVA’s three main partners, plus their half-dozen other constituents; the ruling MahaYuti of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party and their supporters; plus Independents and smaller parties like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena which may or may not ally with any other group.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha, the BJP won 23 seats, the Shiv Sena (undivided) bagged 18 when they had contested as allies, while the NCP (undivided) won four seats, and the Congress, AIMIM and an Independent bagged one seat each.
This time, both — the divided Shiv Sena and NCP — are going to contest as separate entities, but the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (Sharad Pawar) will also enter the fray with new and untested symbols.
–IANS
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