From the earlier 32 seats that it wanted to contest in the Lok Sabha polls Maharashtra, the big brother BJP has now settled down for 28 seats, leaving the remaining 20 seats to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar). If anything, it is Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde who-- with a final tally of 15 seats in his party’s kitty — has emerged stronger in the just-finalised seat-sharing arrangement among the ruling MahaYuti constituents.

Even as the ruling MahaYuti leaders were busy campaigning for the elections to 13 Lok Sabha seats in the first and second phases of Lok Sabha polls, Shinde was quietly negotiating with the central BJP leadership on the nine undecided Lok Sabha seats (out of the total 48 seats). In the end, Shinde had his way in several of the disputed seats.

Shinde’s bargaining skills bear out from the fact that he has managed to arm-twist the BJP into giving his party three seats from Mumbai – the prestigious Mumbai, Mumbai north-west and Mumbai north-central, the adjoining Thane and Kalyan seats and also wrest the Nashik seat from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.    

From the seat-sharing tie-up finalised within the ruling MahaYuti,  it is quite surprising that the BJP -- which has an excellent organisational base in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), comprising the country’s commercial capital and the neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts – has given away five out of nine Lok Sabha seats in the MMR to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. 

What has surprised many as to how Shinde – whose Shiv Sena does not have as strong an organisational base as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in Mumbai and elsewhere in the state – has ended up with 15 seats, which is at least 5 seats more than 10 seats the BJP when Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah had agreed to give to the ruling Shiv Sena.

Unlike Shinde who worked his way from the beginning to get what he wanted from the BJP, NCP breakaway group leader Ajit Pawar settled down for five Lok Sabha seats --- of which he has allotted one seat to  smaller party  Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, from where its founder Mahadev Jankar is contesting from Parbhani.

It was not just the BJP that had to give in to Shinde’s demand. On its part, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP wanted to field its senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal from Nashik. However, Shinde put his foot down and ensured that his man, two-time sitting MP Hemant Godse got the ticket to contest the Nashik seat. In fact, the BJP was keen in contesting the Thane—which incidentally is the home town of Shinde—and Kalyan – a seat that Shinde’s son Dr Shrikant Shinde won in the 2019 Lok Sabha as the then united Shiv Sena candidate. However, after negotiations, Shinde ensured that Shiv Sena got Thane on the ground it is symbolically very important for Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena, while he managed to get Kalyan on the premise it is represented by his son Dr Shrikant Shinde.

Between the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP,  there was a lot of discussion on the choice of candidates. On the basis of an internal survey it had done, the BJP forced Shinde to drop three sitting MPs from the latter’s camp in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions  - Krupal Tumane from Ramtek (SC), Bhawana Gawali (Yavatmal-Washim) and Hemant Patil (Hingoli).

In Yavatmal-Washim, five-time Shiv Sena MP Bhawana Gawli who quit the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to join Shinde Sena, was dropped. In her place, the Shinde Sena nominated Rajashree Patil, wife of the party’s Hingoli MP Hemant Patil, to contest against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Sena (UBT).  In Hingoli, the Shinde Sena has nominated Baburao Kolatkar against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of the Sena (UBT).

“During the initial stage of seat-sharing negotiations, Shinde was dealing with deputy chief minister and senior state BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. But, when he realised that things were not working his way, he established a direct link with Amit Shah and held talks with him. But for the tough bargaining skills displayed by Shinde, being a new party we would not have got 15 Lok Sabha seats and that too three seats from Mumbai, from the BJP,” a senior Shiv Sena leader close to Shinde said.