Maharashtra Congress Holds Strategy Session To Resolve Seat Sharing Issue

Mumbai:

The Maharashtra Congress is in a huddle to recalibrate their strategy for seat sharing in the state, which has been on ice for weeks. The meeting with allies, scheduled for Monday, was pushed back again.

The Congress, which went on a spree last month, sealing deals with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party — is facing a hurdle with allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra.

The rough template for seat sharing is this: The Congress will get close to 18 of the state’s 48 seats, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena 18-20 seats and the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party will get 8-10 seats. Around 6 seats are undecided, sources said.

But the  bone of contention are nine seats — nine seats that have become the bone of contention, according to sources, are Akola, Bhandara-Gondia, Hingoli, Kolhapur, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North, West Nasik, Pune, and Wardha.

The latest niggle is the VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi) which is being added to the alliance. The party of Prakash Ambedkar wants five seats. The MVA is earmarking only two for them.

Sources said a meeting will be held tomorrow between the VBA and the Maha Vikas Aghadi. The addition of the VBA to the alliance is expected to increase the heft of the MVA. The VBA became a political force with an anti-BJP stance after the 2019 Bhima-Koregaon clashes.

The Congress core committee is currently meeting under the chairmanship of state unit chief Nana Patole. Key state leaders including Balasaheb Thorat, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vijay Waddetiwar are attending.

Several district-level presidents and possible candidates are also present, sources said.

On the table are not only the seat-sharing challenges, but a list of the party’s possible candidates and campaign plan.

The Congress also wants to review its preparedness for 19 Lok Sabha seats. Mumbai has been excluded, since a separate meeting will be held for the city.