After weeks of negotiations that involved exaggerated claims, aggressive posturing, climb-downs and compromises, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday announced the seat-sharing arrangement reached among its three constituents — Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar — for all the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.
Under the seat-sharing arrangement, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has walked away with the lion’s share of 21 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress has been allotted 17 seats and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has settled down for the remaining 10 seats.
Being the pivot of the Opposition front in the State, the Congress has made maximum sacrifices, by giving up the seats of Sangli and Bhiwandi seats to the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP), respectively
At a joint Press conference held at at ‘Shivalaya’, the Shiv Sena (UBT) office in south Mumbai, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and State Congress president Nana Patole unveiled the seat-sharing arrangement hammered out by them for the Lok Sabha polls to be held in the state in five phases from April 19 to May 20.
After Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut read out the list of seats allotted to three constituents of the MVA and said, “We have absolutely no differences among us. The seat-sharing arrangement announced by us is final. There would not be any changes in the arrangement.”
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said in view of the main objective of defeating the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, his party had preferred to be “large-hearted” in its approach towards seat-sharing.
“For us, victory against the BJP is the larger goal. That’s why we have to set aside certain differences with regard to seat-sharing,” Uddhav said, when asked why his party refused to give up its claim on the Sangli seat.
Alluding to the launch of the BJP’s campaign in Maharashtra by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Maharashtra on Monday, Uddhav said, “Modi’s election rally coincided with the “surya grahan” (solar eclipse) and “amavasya” (new moon). You can predict for yourself as to what’s going to be the result of this strange coincidence”.
Slamming Modi for his reference to the Shiv Sena (UBT) as “fake Sena”, Uddhav said, “The speech that Modi delivered at Chandrapur did not behove well for a Prime Minister. When we criticise him for his speech, please don’t take it as an insult to the Prime Minister. He is more of a leader of a corrupt party than a Prime Minister. It is not right for a leader of the party of extortionists to call our party a fake Sena.”
Uddhav charged that the BJP was indeed a “party of extortionists” which had become crystal clear after the expose of the electoral bonds “scam”.
The announcement about the seat-sharing arrangement among the MVA constituents was made in the presence of all the other MVA allies including smaller parties like PWP, CPI, AAP, CPM, SP and other Dalit parties.
Though it has lost two seats — Sangli and Bhiwandi, it has got two LS seats from Mumbai — Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North - which it was insisting on.
The seat-sharing break-up for 48 seats is as follows:
Shiv Sena (UBT) - 21:- Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Raigad, Maval, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri, Buldhana, Hatkanangle, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shirdi, Sangli, Hingoli, Yavatmal-Washim, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West, Mumbai South and Mumbai North East.
Congress - 17:- Nandurbar, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North, Mumbai North Central, Pune, Latur, Solapur. Kolhapur and Ramtek.
NCP (SP) - 10:- Baramati, Shirur, Satara, Bhiwandi, Dindori, Madha, Raver, Wardha, Ahmednagar South and Beed.
The seat tie-up finalised by the Opposition alliance has cleared the decks for a direct fight between the ruling BJP MahaYuti (NDA) and the Opposition MVA (INDIA Bloc) in all the 48 constituencies in the state. This is notwithstanding the presence of the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidates in several of the constituencies.
