MUMBAI: The tug of war over seat sharing for Lok Sabha 2024 and Maharashtra Assembly elections has begun among the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance partners.
The three major constituents of the MVA alliance are fighting over the 'big brother' status.
Senior NCP leader and leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said that earlier Congress was the 'big brother' in their alliance, but now the NCP has acquired the status as they have higher MLA count in the Maharashtra Assembly.
The NCP has 54 MLAs and four Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra while Congress has 44 MLAs and only one Lok Sabha member from the state
Pawar said that Congress used to get more seats than the NCP but now NCP will demand more seats on the basis of its current MLA strength in the state.
However, former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that there is no point giving importance to Ajit Pawar's statement. He said that in alliance, the leaders have to make such a statement to motivate their cadre ahead of the elections.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said there is no such thing as big brother and younger brother.
“Congress is a national party and has always won the highest numbers of seats in India and in Maharashtra, but never treated its alliance partners with a big brother attitude. We never did injustice to alliance partners. Maha Vikas Aghadi has to work together to defeat the BJP,” Patole said.
On the other hand, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that if the alliance partners of MVA want to defeat the BJP, then they all should be ready for compromise and sacrifice.
He said Uddhav Thackeray rallies are pulling a huge crowd plus there is a sympathy wave for Uddhav Thackeray after BJP snatched the party, and its symbol after toppling the MVA government.
“In the MVA meeting at NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence at Silver Oak, no seat distribution formula was discussed and finalized. We are all ready to defeat the BJP in Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. Karnataka has shown the way.
Prithviraj Chavan said that there is a wave of change in India.
“People want change and there is a huge current against the present BJP regime in India. BJP got decimated in Karnataka so things are very much clear that people are against the BJP and its anti-farmers and common man policies,” Chavan added.