Polls 2024: Too early for seat-sharing talks, but heartburn already in MVA
MUMBAI: The constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have heartburn. The cause is the seat sharing for next year's Lok Sabha and State Assembly polls.
Lately, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar was on a tour of Solapur district when he demanded the Solapur constituency for NCP. Earlier, NCP members, as if having read the mind of their leader, had insisted that the presence of the NCP in Solapur is stronger than the Congress. They demanded the seat should be allocated to their party. The same sentiment was echoed by NCP legislator Rohit Pawar. But Congress says Solapur is their traditional seat.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole was more vehement when he said that Congress is a national party. It has a solid base in Maharashtra. Hence, it will contest as many as possible in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
However, he was quick to add that there are no differences within Maha Vikas Aghadi. "Whatever issues are there in the front will be sorted out amicably. We're united against the BJP and confident of defeating the saffron party," he claimed.
To this, an NCP leader on condition of anonymity said that at present NCP is the strongest party in MVA in terms of the number of elected Lok Sabha MPs and MLAs.
“Congress has only one Lok Sabha MP and 44 MLAs while Shiv Sena (UBT) has only five Lok Sabha MPs and 16 MLAs. However, NCP has five Lok Sabha MPs and the highest number of 56 MLAs. So, our political and electoral strength is more than both alliance partners. The alliance partners should be realistic during the seat sharing otherwise things may go awry, he said. We want to avoid it therefore asking both the alliance partners to have seat-sharing early,” senior NCP leader added.
NCP is upset with the Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for his edit saying Sharad Pawar failed to find a successor to his party therefore the 83-year-old Sharad Pawar was forced to rescind his resignation.
Raut also said that some sections of the NCP were ready with their travel bags to join the BJP. Reacting to it, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said that Sanjay Raut, rather than writing on NCP leaders, should focus on his party.
“If Raut had focused his party and their leaders' travel bags, Uddhav Thackeray would not have lost his government and there would not have split in their party as well. So, Sanjay Raut should not comment on our party’s internal matters if he really wants MVA to survive and thrive,” Bhujbal added.
Sharad Pawar said that he does not give much importance to Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana.