MVA talks resume as Congress neta meets Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar | India News
MUMBAI: A day after a virtual breakdown in seat-sharing talks in Maha Vikas Aghadi with Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Congress‘s Nana Patole taking potshots at each other and Uddhav Thackeray saying things should not be stretched to breaking point, AICC in-charge for Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala met Uddhav and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar in the city to defuse the situation. Talks resumed on Saturday after the meetings but were inconclusive, and Chennithala said they will conclude and seats will be announced “in the next one or two days.”
MVA has agreed on 263 seats but consensus is eluding it on 25 seats.”I am sure the dispute over the pending 25 seats will be resolved amicably,” Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat told TOI.
An NCP (SP) functionary said that after three days of marathon meetings, it was expected that MVA politicians would come out with a final seat-sharing formula on Saturday. However, owing to the “adamant attitude” of a section of MVA constituents, a solution seems not near at hand, the functionary said.
At Saturday’s MVA meeting, Congress was represented by Patole and Thorat, NCP (SP) by Jeetendra Awhad and Jayant Patil, and UBT Sena by Raut and MP Anil Desai. “All constituents of MVA should take an amicable view. They will have to relax their adamant attitude, only then will a consensus formula be drafted. Otherwise, we will have to look for the option of a friendly contest, as was done in Sangli (in the Lok Sabha polls), where the rebel Congress nominee defeated the UBT Shiv Sena nominee,” said the NCP functionary.
Chennithala said after meeting Uddhav at the latter’s Matoshree resident, “He was in hospital so I enquired about his health. He and MVA both are in good health. We will fight the polls together and there are no differences. We have resumed seat-sharing talks. There is no dispute, Congress under Nana Patole, Sanjay Raut (UBT Sena) and NCP (SP)’s Jayant Patil will sit and conclude the talks.”
Raut said, “AICC in-charge Ramesh Chennithala met Uddhavji at Matoshree. Some issues were discussed in detail, and the stalled talks have resumed. The talks were a bit slow but polls have been declared so we need to move swiftly and MVA should declare its candidates soon. There are no big disputes. In alliances, there is always a tiff over some seats. We have decided that the talks will be over by Saturday night.” Raut was present during Chennithala’s meeting with Uddhav.
Chennithala said, “MVA will form the govt in Maharashtra. There is no dispute between us and we will fight BJP together and pull down this corrupt govt. The seats will be declared in the next one-two days. MVA is the face and we will all decide together who will be the CM after the elections. Now our focus is to get a majority for MVA. I have spoken to both Uddhavji and Sharad Pawarji, we are all together and MVA is intact.”
