The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra has settled on a seat-share deal for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, sources told NDTV on Friday morning, adding that a formal announcement is likely to be made within 48 hours.
Sources said the Shiv Sena faction led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will contest 20 of the 48 seats in the state. The Congress will contest on 18 seats and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party unit will field candidates on the other 10 seats.
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi – a regional party that had earlier sought five seats – will get two seats from the Sena (UBT) wing, and Raju Shetty, an independent, will get the support of Mr Pawar’s outfit.
Sources also said the Sena (UBT) will contest four of the six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, one of which – probably the Mumbai North East seat – may go to the VBA.
Last week, sources told NDTV that while talks had settled on 39 seats, there were major differences on Mumbai’s South Central and North West seats – both the Congress and the Sena (UBT) wanted them.
Read | Congress, Maharashtra allies agree on deal for 39 out of 48 seats: Sources
It is unclear how that dispute has been resolved.
In the 2019 elections, the Sena (then undivided and in alliance with the BJP) contested 23 seats and won 18, including Mumbai South Central and North West. The Congress contested 25 seats and won only Chandrapur, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP (then undivided) contested 19 seats and won four.
The BJP dominated that election and won 23 out of the 25 seats it contested.
This time the BJP will be supported by the rebel factions of Shiv Sena and NCP, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, each of whom led the rebellion – which was believed to be supported by the BJP – after leaving their parties and then Joined the saffron party.
The deal comes after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi reached out to Mr Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.
Read | Rahul Gandhi’s one-hour conversation with Uddhav Thackeray amid seat dispute
The agreement reached now is another big step for India’s opposition faction, which is trying to reach an agreement as soon as possible with elections due in a few weeks.
The Congress-led grouping – set up in June last year with the express aim of defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party – is struggling to seal the deal, with state parties trying to secure a larger share of the seats in each case. Putting pressure on the national organization for this. ,
The Congress’s dismal electoral record over the past decade – particularly its poor performance in 2014 and 2019, when combined it won less than 100 seats – has made its task very difficult.
In Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress also broke off all talks with the Congress as it continued talks on a ‘final’ offer of two seats – the same (and only) two seats it won last time.
Read | Trinamool says it will contest on all 42 seats in Bengal, Congress’s hopes dashed
Since then, India has received a massive boost.
Congress and SP have divided 80 seats of UP on the basis of 17:63 and an all India agreement has been reached between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
Read | Congress reaches deal with AAP on seat share speed!
Many believe that the turning point was the Congress-AAP’s dramatic victory in the Chandigarh mayor election last month. India’s allies contested the elections together and emerged victorious, even though it required the intervention of the Supreme Court to counter the “murder of democracy” of the Returning Officer.
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