NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday had the last laugh as the opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi finally announced its seat sharing deal for 48 Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra after several weeks of hectic negotiations.
However, Sanjay Raut had made it clear that his party would not budge and even claimed that seat-sharing talks were over.
Today's formal announcement by the MVA partners shows that the Shiv Sena (UBT) managed to prevail over the allies.Sangli is a traditional bastion of the Congress, and it has won it continuously since Independence until 2014.
The NCP had contested 19 seats and had won 4, while the Congress contested 25 and won just 1.Clearly, based on these numbers, the Shiv Sena (UBT) had a rightful claim to maximum seats within the alliance.
Most of the leaders who had won on the party ticket are now with the other faction, which is the official Shiv Sena, led by chief minister Eknath Shinde.
NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday had the last laugh as the opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi finally announced its seat sharing deal for 48 Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra after several weeks of hectic negotiations. The weeks preceding the final announcement saw moments of muscle flexing and one-upmanship between the allies.As per the final deal, Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest on 21 seats, Congress on 17 and the NCP (SP) on 10 seats.However, as far as Shiv Sena (UBT) is concerned, the party had already decided the number of seats it would contest and also announced most of them, including Sangli, much in advance. Sanjay Raut had on March 27 released the first list of Shiv Sena (UBT) and announced the names of 17 party candidates.Maharashtra Congress leaders including state chief Nana Patole had then strongly objected to this unilateral Shiv Sena (UBT) announcement and had staked strong claim to the Sangli seat. However, Sanjay Raut had made it clear that his party would not budge and even claimed that seat-sharing talks were over. Today's formal announcement by the MVA partners shows that the Shiv Sena (UBT) managed to prevail over the allies.Sangli is a traditional bastion of the Congress, and it has won it continuously since Independence until 2014. But Patole tried to put up a brave face as he said Congress did not "surrender" but took a step back in the seat-sharing negotiations with its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners as the talks could not go on indefinitely."The deal has been finalised after consultations with the party high command. We tried our best to get the seats where we had good prospects of winning. But the talks cannot be stretched too far as the election process has already begun," Patole said.This even as the grand old party faces rebellion and has lost one key leader in the state. The Congress sacked senior party leader Sanjay Nirupam after he openly rebelled against the leadership over "surrender" to Shiv Sena (UBT).On the Sangli unit of Congress calling a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future course of action, he said it was done after taking his permission. As per Congress sources, the party's local leadership in Mumbai too was upset over the failure to get at least three out of six seats in the city.In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections , the undivided Shiv Sena had contested 23 Lok Sabha seats and won 18. The NCP had contested 19 seats and had won 4, while the Congress contested 25 and won just 1.Clearly, based on these numbers, the Shiv Sena (UBT) had a rightful claim to maximum seats within the alliance. However, there is a difference between 2019 and 2024 for Uddhav's party. Most of the leaders who had won on the party ticket are now with the other faction, which is the official Shiv Sena, led by chief minister Eknath Shinde. Uddhav Thackeray has managed to get the seats of his choice based on 2019 performance, he now faces the challenge of proving that he is not the "fake Shiv Sena" as Prime Minister Modi claimed in one of his recent rallies in the state.
