Lok Sabha elections 2024: Agreement over disagreement

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. File pic

While the ruling and opposition alliances were still stuck in seat-sharing talks, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar declared his first two candidates for the Nationalist Congress Party. He offered no surprises as he asked the party's state unit president and sitting MP Sunil Tatkare to contest the Lok Sabha election from Raigad. A couple of hours later, the DCM executed a friendly arrangement with the Shinde Sena by inducting former Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil to make him NCP's candidate in Shirur against the Sharad Pawar faction's actor-turned-MP Amol Kolhe.

Voting in Raigad will be in the third phase on May 7 and Shirur will be in the fourth on May 13. Pawar said most of his party's seats were in the fourth and fifth leg of polling and hence he was in no hurry to announce the candidates. The BJP has announced 23 names so far. The Shinde Sena hasn't made any candidacy public. The BJP wants to contest at least 30 seats, but the allies are not willing to cut their share for the big brother.

Joint declaration

Ajit Pawar said the NDA's final seat-sharing will be made public at a joint press conference in Mumbai on March 28. "Jara dhir dhara (be patient)… 99 per cent work is complete. You will know everything on March 28," he said when asked about the delay.

NDA's seat-sharing formula is in limbo because of demands from the three partners. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is said to be the fourth major ally, but no decision has been taken. Smaller parties - Mahadev Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and Ramdas Athawale's RPI - are also part of the alliance. Jankar is expected to get one seat to contest. Earlier, he had unsuccessfully fought against Supriya Sule in Baramati. He could even be the NDA's candidate from Baramati again, while Ajit's wife Sunetra is also tipped to be her sister-in-law Supriya's opponent.

Suspense over Baramati

When asked, the DCM made a cryptic statement. "Let there be suspense over Baramati. But let me tell you that the name that you have in your mind will be our candidate," he said.

Explaining the situation in the NDA, Ajit Pawar said that in the previous polls, the BJP had won 23 seats and the undivided Sena won 18, of which some are with the Shinde faction. "That makes 41 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra. And yet, we are sure that we will get several seats that don't disappoint party workers," he said, referring to the undivided NCP's gain of four seats in 2019. Insiders said that Ajit Pawar was expected to get at least 5-6 seats.

NCP is said to be willing to give up Satara for BJP's Rajya Sabha MP and Maratha royal Udayanraje Bhosale. Ajit Pawar is also willing to make Udayanraje NCP's candidate, but the MP is opposed to the idea. Insisting that he be given Satara, the seat he held earlier, Udayanraje had camped in New Delhi to meet the BJP high command. Ajit Pawar also had a response to this development. "The BJP leadership will make him (Udayanraje) understand," he said.

Adamant ally

The real tussle seems to be between the BJP and Shinde Sena which hasn't backed down on its demand for Mumbai South, Thane, Shirdi and Nashik. The BJP also wants these segments, one of which could go to the MNS if it becomes the ally. BJP says the Sena does not have a candidate in Thane whereas it is learnt that CM Shinde asked sitting MLA Pratap Sarnaik to be ready to contest. In Shirdi and Nasik the Sena has sitting MPs who are lobbying with Shinde to retain the seats.

Congress asks MVA partners to accept VBA

The Congress said on Thursday that the seat allocation arrangement of MVA was delayed because of a disagreement over two seats, but it would be resolved soon. The party asked MVA partners to follow the rules of the alliance while demanding Sangli and Bhiwandi, traditional constituencies of the Congress. State Congress president Nana Patole said the party had good candidates for Sangli and Bhiwandi. He also said that the Congress had taken a step forward to accommodate the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. "Our allies should also accept the proposal," added Patole. VBA had given a Tuesday deadline to the MVA to decide its induction. But it made no announcement on Tuesday.

30
No of seats BJP wants to contest