Mumbai: The tussle between the BJP and its two key allies Shiv Sena and NCP seemed to intensify as the seat-sharing talks of the Maha Yuti entered the final phase.
However, a solution is in sight, Maha Yuti leaders said.
As Ganeshotsav draws to a close, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis--who calls the shots for the BJP--and Ajit Pawar, the NCP president, will start a series of meetings to arrive at a formula that would be respectable for all the three principal ruling parties.
“We would like everything to be settled before the Navratri festival commences. We cannot afford to lose time at this stage,” a senior Maha Yuti leader told DH. "After the debacle in Lok Sabha polls, we cannot take chances. Maharashtra is important for BJP and winning it will give a boost to the NDA," said the senior leader.
Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is expected in mid-November.
The seat sharing talks have gathered steam after the last week’s back-to-back visits of union home minister and BJP’s chief strategist Amit Shah and union health and family welfare minister and BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda.
The BJP state leadership and the core-committee has refused to settle for anything below 150 seats while they have pitched for 170 seats.
The Shiv Sena has pitched for 100 to 110 seats while NCP is asking for 70 to 80 seats. "There has to be give and take based on the principle of elective merit and winnability. At this stage BJP is not keen to give the numbers asked by Shiv Sena and NCP," Maha Yuti sources said, adding that swichovers ahead of polls are bound to happen.
“In Maharashtra the magic figure is 145 and BJP wants to be very close to it to avoid any problems like in 2019 when the government slipped out of the saffron party’s hands,” the Maha Yuti leader said referring to how then NCP president Sharad Pawar and then Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray crafted the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
The Shiv Sena, after the 2019 polls, broke 30 years' relationship with BJP and joined hands with the Congress-NCP Democratic Front.
However, in June-July 2022 and June-July 2023, the BJP engineered splits the Shiv Sena and NCP, respectively, completely changing the political equations in the western Indian state.
Thackeray and Pawar now command the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), respectively, and are key allies of the Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc.
“The seat-sharing would be decided in 8-10 days,” Shinde said on Sunday during an informal chat with media persons.
On the other hand, state BJP president Chandrashekar Bawankule said there is a consensus on 70 to 80 per cent of the total seats. "The three Maya Yuti leaders should be congratulated for vowing to win elections unitedly instead of quoting numbers. We will agree upon fielding winnable candidates," he said on Tuesday.
On being asked about the RSS’ reservations on NCP and reaction of workers on the ground, the Maha Yuti sources said that the BJP’s state leadership and the high-command are of the opinion to take Ajit Pawar along and not ditch him.
The other parties of the BJP-led Maha Yuti includes Ramdas Athawale-led Republic Party of India (Athawale), Hitendra Thakur-led Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Bachchu Kadu-led Prahar Janshakti Party, Prof Jogendra Kawade-led People’s Republican Party, Sadabhau Khot-led Rayat Kranti Sanghatana, Vinay Kore-led Jansurajya Party, Mahadev Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Party.
“We have to accommodate them as well and they would find space largely from BJP’s quota,” the Maha Yuti sources said.