Mumbai:

Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance in Maharashtra has reached agreement on 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state 10 days before elections – senior group leader said on Tuesday morning

The Shiv Sena, led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, got the lion’s share – 21 seats – with the Congress allotted 17 seats and 10 reserved for Sharad Pawar’s nationalist Congress Party groups.

Mr Thackeray’s Sena will also contest four of Mumbai’s six seats – North West, South Central, South and South East. Congress will contest from the other two – North and North Central.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP and the (then undivided) Sena won three each; the two were allies at the time but fell out dramatically after the assembly elections later that year.

Settled in Bhiwandi, Sangli Row

The Bhiwandi and Sangli seats – claimed by all three men, threatening to derail negotiations – have been awarded to Mr Pawar’s National Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena. Congress leader Nana Patole called the issue “solved” and said: “…our workers will work hard to secure victory for MVA candidates in both seats.”

“…We see what (this) authoritarian government (referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party) has been doing. Our workers are working wholeheartedly across the country to fight against these authoritarian people,” Congress Party The Maharashtra unit boss said, “Our aim is to topple the BJP. We will work hard for that.”

“There comes a time when we have to move forward… We have made this deal with the aim of winning elections. We have done that… now the people will take the decision,” Mr Thackeray said.

Mr. Pawar said the candidates (for the yet-to-be-announced seats) will be announced soon.

The Bhiwandi candidate has been identified as Thackeray Sena party leader Chandrahar Patil, a former wrestler. The BJP’s Kapil Patil won the seat in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Likewise, Sangli was won by the BJP’s Sanjay Kakkar Patil in the previous two elections and like party colleague Kapil Patil, he has a chance to win the seat for the third consecutive time.

Sangli is a Congress stronghold; the party held the seat from 1962 to 2009.

Apart from Bhiwandi, the NCP faction will also contest the family stronghold of Baramati, where Sharad Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule and Pa There will be a high-profile clash between Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Mr Wahl’s nephew Ajit Pawar. Who led the rebellion that destroyed the party.

Read | Supriya Sule takes on rebellious cousin’s wife, Pawar vs Pawar

Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA not included

The MVA’s seat-sharing deal came at a time when the MVA and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, who enjoys strong support among the Dalit community, failed to agree on a deal.

The VBA has been engaged in lengthy negotiations with the tripartite alliance but has yet to reach an agreement.

Mr Ambedkar initially wanted his party to get five seats before raising that demand to eight, most of which have been allocated to the Congress party or Mr Thackeray’s Sena faction.

He also accused the MVA of “trying to use the VBA to promote dynastic politics, which we try to resist…” and mocked the group in an interview with NDTV, accusing it of “hiding something”.

Read | ‘Don’t think anyone wants to join’: Prakash Ambedkar on MVA

“There is no openness between them…the question is whether they will continue to be together,” said Mr Ambedkar, grandson of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, the father of the Constitution.

However, as of last week, the league and VBA were still expected to iron out their differences.

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithivraj Chavan even said that his party, which had announced its candidate for Akola seat, would withdraw if a deal was struck.

Read | ‘If Prakash Ambedkar reconciles…’: Congress leader’s seat proposal

Akola was one of the seats offered to the VBA by the MVA; in fact, Mr Ambedkar had said he would contest from the seat held by the BJP’s Sanjay Dhotre since 2004 .

Mr Ambedkar won here in 1998 and 1999.

The MVA today acknowledged the failure of talks with Mr Ambedkar’s party.

Senior NCP Sharadchandra Pawar leader Jayant Patil told reporters, “We have tried to bring people together… but we did fail in a few cases. (Nonetheless), many smaller parties supported us.”

Maharashtra Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Maharashtra will go to polls in five of the seven phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20 . Results will be announced on June 4.

The state will also hold assembly elections later this year.

The MVA is part of the Congress-led India Bloc, which was formed in June last year to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The group initially struggled to strike seat-sharing deals in key states but has now finalized deals in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The turning point, according to many, was the Congress party’s dramatic victory in the Chandigarh mayoral election in February. The allies competed together and won, even if they needed Supreme Court intervention to push back against the returning officer’s “murder of democracy.”

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channel. click the link Get all the latest updates from NDTV in your chat.