MUMBAI : Hardly has the election campaign begun in Maharashtra than the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has started faltering on seat-sharing. The alliance partners are set to go against each other with the Congress reminding Uddhav Thackeray of coalition dharma over Sangli and other Lok Sabha seats.
The state Congress expressed its displeasure at Uddhav-led Shiv Sena declaring Sangli and a few Mumbai Lok Sabha seats. Both the parties had staked their claims on these seats. Former minister and Congress MLA Vishwajit Patil met party president Mallikarjun Kharge and sought his intervention so that Sangli seat went to party candidate Vishal Patil, the grandson of former CM Vasant Dada Patil.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena declared its 17 Lok Sabha candidates on Wednesday, including Chandrahar Patil for the Sangli seat. Besides, the party also declared candidates for Mumbai’s four Lok Sabha seats.
Apart from Sangli, the Bhiwandi and Mumbai South Central seats are the bone of contention among the MVA partners. The Congress wants all three seats based on “winnability” while NCP (Sharad Pawar) wants to contest the Bhiwandi seat. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has already declared Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai as its candidate from Mumbai South Central where the Congress wants to field its Mumbai unit chief Varsha Gaikwad.
A source said the Congress leadership has conveyed to the state unit that if they failed to pursue Uddhav and Sharad Pawar, then they should be ready for a friendly fight in all three constituencies.
Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat has said Uddhav should not have declared the candidates for Sangli and other Mumbai Lok Sabha seats when the discussions were on for these seats.
He said that it was not too late for Uddhav to withdraw from Sangli and other LS seats.
Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT) said the party was firm on the candidates already declared. He said that Ramtek and Kolhapur seats were theirs but had to concede them to Congress. “So, why not get Sangli in return?” he asked.
Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who wants Mumbai North-West seat, said the party should break the alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) if it was not honouring the agreements.