Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah on Monday assured alliance partners Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of a fair share of seats to contest in the Maharashtra Assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.
In a meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (SS) and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar (NCP) at the Mumbai airport, Shah sought to address the issue of a growing rift among the alliance partners which spilled over into the public and advised them to focus on strengthening the government’s position instead of fretting over the number of seats each party would contest in the Assembly polls.
As per BJP sources, the party is likely to contest around 150 of the 288 seats as part of the Mahayuti alliance while the Shiv Sena is likely to get 75 to 80 seats, and the NCP, 55-60, reports The Indian Express.
Notably, Sena and NCP have demanded 85-90 and 60 seats, respectively, for the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Shah, who arrived in Mumbai on a short visit on Saturday, also held a meeting with senior BJP leaders and directed them to pull up their socks for the coming elections and set them a target of winning 125 seats of the 150-odd it plans to contest.
During the meeting of the BJP’s core committee, Shah also held one-on-one talks with the leaders and pointed out the shortcomings in their respective districts. Shah also briefed leaders on taking the Mahayuti government’s schemes to the people besides keeping critical factors like farmers unrest, Dalit sentiments and Marathas versus OBC tension in mind during campaigning.
This is the first time that Shah has assured leaders of the Mahayuti alliances of a good number of seats in Maharashtra. The accommodative approach adopted by the BJP leadership is likely to have stemmed from the debacle the alliance faced in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.
The BJP won nine of the 28 seats it contested while with the Shiv Sena bagged seven of 15 seats and the NCP one of 3. The combined tally of the NDA stood at an unimpressive 17 of 48 seats while the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance won 30 seats.
In the 2019 Maharashtra elections, the BJP, in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena, contested 164 out of 288 seats, while the Shiv Sena contested 126 seats. The undivided NCP, on the other hand, contested 121 seats in the 2019 polls.
The Lok Sabha election results and the formation of the government had triggered unease within the Mahayuti over the allocation of portfolios following its reduced tally in the state. Moreover, the RSS' critique of the BJP's decision to ally with Pawar's NCP, and Ajit Pawar's conciliatory tone regarding Sharad Pawar also led to speculation that the party may be on its way out of the alliance.
The acrimony had gradually started to become visible to the public with statements by senior leaders of the Shiv Sena and the NCP taking on each other.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
