Various politicians in Maharashtra said off-the-record today that the difficult task of seat distribution has nearly been finished by the ruling alliance. According to BJP sources, the party would run for 158 of the 288 seats in the state. It has extended an offer of 50 seats to Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and 70 seats to Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.
The difficult task of seat distribution has nearly been finished by the ruling alliance in Maharashtra
Following parallel strategy meetings between the Congress and the BJP, sources indicated that the alliance has also resolved not to project a face for the Chief Minister position, with Eknath Shinde anticipated to continue as its face in the elections.
J P Nadda, the head of the party, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the BJP’s Maharashtra core group meeting in Delhi.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, National General Secretary of the Maharashtra BJP Vinod Tawde, and President Chandrashekhar Bawankule were among those in attendance.
The blueprint resolves the problems the Mahayuti was having (Mahayukti is an alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) including the strong demands from alliance partners and internal BJP opposition to giving seats to Ajit Pawar’s NCP party. Ninety seats were sought by the Shiv Sena and seventy by the NCP.
Meanwhile, the Maha Vikas Aghadi opposition group is still working to define its broad roadmap. Parties are still battling it out for a few seats, including Nagpur and Mumbai.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena is quite uncomfortable with the Congress’ announcement that the Maharashtra Chief Minister will be chosen after the polls, which was announced during a strategy meeting earlier this evening.
Mr. Thackeray has stated time and time again that the candidate for chief minister, whomever he may be, has to be announced as soon as possible. But he has insisted that the opposition will hold off until the ruling alliance shows its cards.
During the Congress meeting chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi, the leaders were warned against becoming overconfident, as they had been in Haryana.
In 2024, the ruling alliance’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections was disappointing; out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, 30 were won by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP. The ruling alliance managed to win 17 seats.
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