No disagreement, seat-sharing negotiations will be concluded tonight, according to Maha Vikas Aghadi

News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 19th October 2024

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) stated on Saturday that discussions to finalize the seats will be finished by tonight and that there were no issues between its allies in terms of seat-sharing for the next Assembly elections. The Samajwadi Party was with the MVA, according to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, and discussions between its leader Akhilesh Yadav and Sena (UBT) chairman Uddhav Thackeray took place. Additionally, he stated that negotiations to resolve any outstanding issues amongst MVA allies will start at 3 p.m. today.

“Ramesh Chennithala (Congress in-charge for Maharashtra) had come to Matoshree (Uddhav Thackeray’s home) and we had discussions in the presence of Uddhav Thackeray. The discussions which had been paused for two days, will resume today at 3 pm,” he told reporters.

“We have decided that by late night, the discussions will be completed and our seat sharing will be finalised. The Samajwadi Party is with us and yesterday, talks were held between Uddhav Thackeray and Akhilesh Yadav,” he said.

Concurrently, Sanjay Raut declared that his party and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) had finished their seat-sharing negotiations because both parties had the will and attitude to find solutions. A day after expressing unhappiness over the delay in the alliance’s seat-sharing talks and accusing the Maharashtra Congress leaders of lacking decision-making skills, he made comments that seemed to be directed at the third MVA partner, Congress.

Uddhav Thackeray warned Friday that negotiating among allies, especially the Congress, must not be allowed to approach a breaking point amid a standoff over seat-sharing negotiations. While refusing to address Sanjay Raut’s comments, Nana Patole stated that the seat-sharing committees were established to allow party leaders to update their respective chiefs on the status of negotiations.

“Sanjay Raut’s leader is Uddhav Thackeray. Our leaders are Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi and the leader of the NCP (SP) is Sharad Pawar. In the seat-sharing committee, neither Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Ji, Mallikarjun Kharge nor Rahul Gandhi remain present. But the committee has been formed at the orders of these leaders,” he said.

“Our responsibility is to update our leader. If Sanjay Raut is controlling Uddhav Ji, it is their issue. Telling the reality to our leaders is our responsibility and we are doing that. We do not want to speak anything on what Sanjay Raut does,” he added.

Congress in-charge for Maharashtra, Ramesh Chennithala, stated that alliance leaders will collaborate on seat distribution today and that there are no disagreements amongst MVA allies. “MVA has no differences and we are together in this. We will have discussions on seat sharing again at 3 pm today. Nana Patole, Sanjay Raut, and Jayant Patil will work on seat division today,” he said.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) reached an agreement on 200 Assembly seats for the elections, according to NCP (SP) chairman Sharad Pawar earlier on Thursday, according to news agency PTI. The Congress, the NCP under Sharad Pawar, and the Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, make up the MVA. Following the breakup of the Shiv Sena and NCP parties in June 2022 and July 2023, respectively, this will be the state’s first Assembly election. On November 20, Maharashtra will hold an assembly election for 288 seats, and on November 23, the ballots will be counted.