MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with his two deputies - Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar – is likely to meet Union Minister Amit Shah in Delhi seeking clarity on seat-sharing in the Lok Sabha polls and tangible solutions for the Maratha reservation issue.
The chief minister had met DCMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at Varsha bungalow on Thursday to deliberate on the issue. While BJP is firm on contesting 23 of the 48 seats, DCM Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction has set its eye on 11 seats, and CM Shinde-led Shiv Sena is demanding 3 seats, said a source.
“There is big mismatch among the alliance partners’ seat demands. Though the BJP is playing the big brother in Mahayuti alliance, Ajit Pawar-led NCP is equally important to repeat the 2019 Lok Sabha tally of 42 seats in the multi-party politics. BJP has vote share of 32% and to bag 42 seats, including numbers of alliance partners, we need to grab 40% vote share. Therefore, this seat-sharing talk has to be held in Delhi only,” said a senior NCP leader.
Asserting that there is no confusion among the alliance partners, MLA Sanjay Shirsat of the Shinde-led camp said top leaders of the three parties will resolve the issue amicably. However, another Shiv Sena leader said that last time Shiv Sena contested 23 seats and won 19. “We are not demanding 23 seats but a decent number. We expect 19 seats so that on all sitting MPs seat, will repeat our candidates,” the leader said.
Manoj Jarange Patil had announced his march to Mumbai on January 25 to press for the demand of Maratha reservations. “Jarange Patil has threatened that three crore Maratha protestors will march to Mumbai and will not leave until reservation status is granted. The huge gathering can lead to law and order issue,” he added.