)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday indicated a seat-sharing deal for the Maharashtra Assembly election with its Maha Yuti (Grand Alliance) partners was a formality as all allies were unanimous on the objective of dislodging the 15-year Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government.
“Maha Yuti will fight the polls. The exact number of seats party-wise and also exchange of seats among Maha Yuti partners would be finalised soon,” BJP leader and core committee member Sudhir Mungantiwar told Business Standard.
The Maha Yuti consists of the BJP, the Shiv Sena, Swabhimani Sehtkari Sanghatana (SSS), Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP), Republican Party of India (RPI) and Shiv Sangram.
The BJP expressed its confidence to settle all issues in seat-sharing with its allies after party president Amit Shah on his maiden visit here on Thursday exhorted party members to make Maharashtra “Congress-NCP free”.
Shah's late Thursday night meeting with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was planned to ensure the party's 28-year alliance was intact.
By meeting Uddhav and paying homage to Shiv Sena chief late Bal Thackeray's ''samadhi'' in Shivaji Park, Shah also attempted to send a clear message that all talk of the BJP going solo in the media had no meaning and the party, in an alliance with its Maha Yuti partners wants to unitedly take on the Congress-NCP alliance in the state.
Further, Shah, through state party leaders including BJP's state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis and leader of opposition in the state council Vinod Tawde also assured SSS, RSP, RPI and Shiv Sangram that they would get a due share during seat adjustment. This prompted RPI chief Ramdas Athavale and SSS chief Raju Shetty to announce that a few seats here and there would be acceptable to them. Athavale and Shetty however, expect that a seat-sharing deal would be sealed soon as the time would be very short to fight the Assembly poll slated for October.
Until recently, RPI was insisting that the party should get 38 seats but later lowered it to 20 seats. Similarly, SSS had said it had capable candidates in 62 seats, largely from sugarcane-rich Western Maharashtra. However, SSS has now indicated that it is prepared to adjust on 8 to 12 seats. RSP chief Mahadev Jankar has already announced that he has held satisfactory talks with Shiv Sena leaders who have assured him about giving eight seats from the Sena’s quota. Jankar hoped that BJP would soon fulfill its commitment.
“Our party has been instrumental in giving a tough fight to the Congress-NCP, especially in Western Maharashtra. We have joined Maha Yuti on a common agenda of defeating the Congress-NCP alliance in the Assembly election. Our party is confident that issues with regard to seat-sharing arrangement will be sorted out with mutual discussion,” said SSS spokesman Yogesh Pande.
The BJP and its allies are expected to meet here after September 10 to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement.
