MUMBAI: The tug of war over the fourth Rajya Sabha seat in Maharashtra continued in the Maha Vikas Aghadi as Congress had raised objections to NCP's claim over the seat.
Maharashtra has seven Rajya Sabha seats in total.
In the BJP quota as per their state assembly members, they will get the highest number of three seats while the Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP will jointly get the remaining four seats.
The three parties have taken one seat each but it is the fourth seat that is the main bone of contention among the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders.
The NCP has staked claim over the fourth Rajya Sabha seat and has even announced its senior leader Faujiya Khan’s name for candidature.
Maharashtra Congress had conveyed to the NCP that one additional legislative council seat should be given to them if they were to give up claim to the seat in question.
“The NCP cannot take the seat without consulting the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders. The fourth Rajya Sabha seat should be discussed in the coordination committee of Maha Vikas Aghadi where the final decision will be taken,” said a senior Congress leader.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar has filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha on last Wednesday but Faujiya Khan could not file her nomination because of Congress party's objection.
BJP nominee Udayan Raje Bhosale and the party's alliance candidate Ramdas Athwale, the Minister for State filed their nomination on Thursday.
The third candidate of the BJP alliance, Dr Bhagwat Karad, the former mayor of Aurangabad, is likely to file his nomination on March 13, 2020.
Shiv Sena has nominated its spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi for the Rajya Sabha seat.
This announcement angered the five-time ex-MP of Shiv Sena,Chandrakant Khaire who expressed his displeasure at Maharashtra Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray for not choosing him and giving priority to other candidates.
“We had asked Uddhav Thackeray ji to nominate Chandrakant Khaire, a senior person, for the Rajya Sabha polls. The Aurangabad municipal corporation elections are round the corner and Khaire’s nominations would have helped us in the elections. But our young leader Aaditya Thackeray used his veto in favour of Priyanka Chaturvedi in the final round of discussions,” a Sena leader said requesting anonymity.