NEW DELHI: A senior Congress leader stated that in the August 7 meeting, Congress would ensure it gets more seats than its allies, despite Uddhav’s pressure tactics.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) plans to hold a meeting on August 7 to discuss seat sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election. According to party leaders, the Congress leadership has already decided to negotiate a “big brother role” for itself and secure a majority of the seats in the alliance.
A senior Congress leader from Maharashtra, holding a position at the All India Congress Committee (AICC), stated, “On August 7, we will determine the criteria for seat division, but regardless of the criteria, we will take more seats than our alliance partners. The Uddhav camp may have sought more than 22 assembly seats in Mumbai, but it is just a pressure tactic. Although we won less than half a dozen assembly seats (out of 36) there last time, this time we will secure more than a dozen seats.”
In the 2019 election, Congress won only four Mumbai Assembly seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena won 14 seats. A section of leaders believes the Shiv Sena UBT is unlikely to allocate a significant share of seats to Congress in Mumbai.
The three parties’ major focus, based on which tickets will be distributed, will be on winnability, making the swapping of candidates a possibility. A Congress leader explained, “Last time, Shiv Sena won 56 seats, NCP got 54 seats, and the grand old party secured 44 seats. There is a plan that those seats won by a particular party should be returned to them. For example, this amounts to almost 150 seats. The discussion should be about how to divide the remaining 130 seats.”
However, there is an assumption among the lower ranks of alliance partners that Sharad Pawar may not want Congress to establish an expanded political network in the state, as it would directly deplete his party’s base. Therefore, he may favor Uddhav, leading to rumors that Pawar is seeking the Maha Vikas Aghadi leadership to announce Uddhav Thackeray as the chief ministerial candidate, keeping Congress on the backfoot.
Despite this, two insiders privy to the developments and holding official positions in the party denied such activities. A senior Congress office bearer close to the decision-making circles stated, “All three leaders have clarity in the alliance’s theme: to defeat the BJP and help each other win the assembly elections. Sharad Pawar’s politics is also quite clear these days. He won’t do anything that will harm the alliance. All parties supported each other in the recent Lok Sabha elections, which will continue in this election as well.”
The three parties, according to insiders, are firm in contesting the elections together and are ready to share the stage often with their alliance partners. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Balasaheb Thorat recently discussed election rally planning with Mr. Thackeray. The MVA comprises the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) [NCP(SP)], and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). The Maharashtra Assembly elections are likely to be held in October this year.