New Delhi: The Congress has asserted that there are no divisions within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the final seat-sharing arrangement among its constituents will be announced on Saturday. This came after a meeting of the party’s central election committee at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi, where discussions centred on candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, according to a report by the Times of India.
The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal. Ramesh Chennithala, the AICC in-charge for Maharashtra, and state Congress chief Nana Patole were also at the meeting.
Confusion among constituents
Confusion erupted within the MVA on Friday after Balasaheb Thorat announced a new seat-sharing formula in MVA. He claimed that consensus had been reached for the Congress, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) to contest 90 seats each, with the remaining 18 seats to be allocated to smaller parties.
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However, no senior Congress leader endorsed Thorat’s proposal. A senior Congress official, while talking to TOI, stated, “There is no such formula of 90:90:90. In fact, consensus was reached for Congress to contest 104 seats, UBT Sena 95, and NCP (SP) 84, with remaining seats for smaller parties.” UBT Sena MP Sanjay Raut subsequently announced that the formula had been revised, with Congress, NCP, and UBT Sena set to contest 85 seats each, while smaller parties would be granted the remaining seats if their leaders joined the MVA.
Thorat to meet Pawar, Uddhav
To address the ongoing disputes, the AICC has instructed Thorat to meet Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday. Nana Patole has reportedly written to both leaders regarding concerns over how the NCP and UBT Sena unilaterally issued authorisation forms to candidates for disputed seats.
Following Friday’s meeting, both Ramesh Chennithala and Nana Patole declined to specify the number of seats Congress would contest. Chennithala added that seat-sharing discussions were in their final stages, with a complete agreement among allies expected to be revealed on Saturday.
