Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The seat tussle between Mahayuti in Maharashtra was resolved in Delhi. It has been decided that BJP will leave some more seats for Ajit Pawar’s NCP. But the final distribution of seats in Mahavikas Aghadi has not been done yet. Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel had reached Delhi on Wednesday night itself to hold final talks on seat sharing in Mahayuti.
The meeting with Amit Shah lasted for about three hours. Since the decision on 182 seats out of 288 has already been taken, the three parties have also declared candidates on these. Of the 106 seats left, most of them were to be divided between BJP and Shinde’s party. Ajit Pawar was unhappy with this. He was demanding more seats for NCP. Amit Shah told the leaders of the three parties in the meeting that the seats will be decided but first decide that after the announcement of the candidates, no rebel candidate from any party will contest the elections, it is the responsibility of convincing the angry leaders. It will be of the party because the rebel candidates cause the most loss.
Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde agreed on this. The three parties agreed on 83 seats out of 106, but the matter was complicated on 23 seats. Most of the controversy was regarding Mumbai seats. It was decided that Ajit Pawar would get more seats than before and secondly, BJP would contest 20 seats in Mumbai and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena would contest 13 seats.
Ajit Pawar’s problem is that there are many powerful leaders in his NCP, all of whom want to get tickets for their sons, daughters, brothers and nephews. If the seat does not go to Ajit Dada, then the same leader will immediately field his candidate and then seek ticket from Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Amit Shah said that there should not be a rebellion and put the responsibility on the shoulders of Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde but it will not be so easy because leaders of both Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Shinde’s Shiv Sena have other options available.
To some extent, this will happen in BJP also, but if the organization and RSS people try, they will convince the rebels. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have a big advantage. Shiv Sena’s original symbol Teer Kaman is with Shinde’s army and NCP’s original symbol Ghadi is with Ajit Pawar. On the other hand, the fight in front of Mahavikas Aghadi is not just about distribution of seats. The matter is much bigger than this. The root of the tussle over seats lies in who will sit on the CM’s chair if Aghadi wins the elections.
Aditya Thackeray said in ‘India TV’s ‘Chunav Manch’ in Mumbai that the face of Mahavikas Aghadi will be known after the distribution of seats. But at the same time he also said that the people of Maharashtra still remember the rule of Uddhav Thackeray. In ‘Chunav Manch’, another leader of Uddhav’s party Priyanka Chaturvedi claimed that Uddhav Thackeray is at the forefront in popularity rankings. He said that not announcing the name of the Chief Minister is part of the strategy. I believe that the fight before Mahavikas Aghadi is not just about distribution of seats. The root of the tussle over seats lies in who will sit on the CM’s chair if Aghadi wins the elections. Uddhav is the biggest contender. But this is also the problem of Mahayuti. Here there are three contenders each for the post of Chief Minister. Shinde is there today, but if he wins the elections, BJP will have more seats and Fadnavis will say, I will come back. Ajit Dada also has a dream. ,Rajat Sharma,
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