Even as the saffron alliance partners continued to indulge in posturing over the sharing of seats for the October 15 Maharashtra polls, the Maharashtra BJP on Tuesday gave a new dimension to the ongoing seat-sharing negotiations, by saying that it was rooting for “re-distribution” of seats, rather seeking more number of seats from the Shiv Sena.
A day after Shiv Sena president rejected the BJP’s demand for 135 seats as against the 119 seats allotted to it in the 2009 Assembly polls, Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadnavis upped the ante, by re-calibrating the party’s stand on the sharing of seats.
Talking to mediapersons after the State party’s unit members confabulated with senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi, Fadnavis said: “We are not at all stuck on the issue of number of seats that we would like to contest. What we are asking for (from the Shiv Sena) is re-distribution of seats. Given the changed political scenario, we are working works towards ensuring that the “Maha-Yuti” gets maximum number of seats. The need of the hour is that we re-assess our strengths and weaknesses in each of the constituencies and re-distribute the seats accordingly”.
“For instance, there are at least 59 seats in the Shiv Sena quota which the Sena has never won in the past. Similarly, there are 19 such (in our quota) which we have never won. At today’s meeting, we re-assessed the situation in each of these constituencies. That’s why are now saying that we should go in for re-distribution of seats, so as to ensure that Maha-Yuti gets maximum number of seats,” Fadnavis said.
The catch in the BJP’s new formula for seat-sharing is that through the “re-distribution” of seats, it is looking for more number of seats than the even 135 seats, in its impending seat-sharing arrangement.
In fact, Fadnavis was reiterating a similar stand that State BJP leader Vinod Tawade had taken during the course of an interaction programme with the journalists of a Marathi TV channel on Monday.
“This is not about who will get the CM’s post…We are trying to see if we can take the tally of our seats beyond 200 seats. The BJP has 19 seats which the party has lost in three consecutive elections. Similarly Sena has 59 such seats where it has failed to win. So, discussions
are focused on whether we could switch and maximise our tally,” Tawde had revealed at Monday’s interaction with a TV channel staffers.
However, informed Sena sources said in the evening that the party would not accept the seat “re-distribution” formula being suggested by the BJP. For, the Sena stands to lose out in a big way in the sharing of seats with the BJP. No wonder that the Sena is harping on the late Pramod Mahajan-Balasaheb formula—under which the Sena has a quota of 171 seats as against 117 seats meant for the BJP. At best, the Shiv Sena will spare at least 8 to 10 additional seats than the 117 seats due for it under the old formula.
At Tuesday’s meeting with Gadkari, senior BJP leaders like Vinod Tawade and Sudhir Mungantiwar reportedly rooted for the party contesting the Assembly polls independently, while Fadnavis favoured the continuance of the alliance with the Shiv Sena.
Notwithstanding the Shiv Sena’s public posturing that it is all for the continuing the alliance with the BJP, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray began to prepare himself for an eventuality of parting ways with the BJP and contesting the State Assembly on its own strength. As part of the exercise, the party leaders began to confabulate with all such party workers seeking tickets from BJP-held constituencies in Marathwada region.
Ahead of BJP’s national president Amit Shah’s arrival in Mumbai on Wednesday for a three-day poll tour of the state, there was still uncertainty in the Sena camp if Shah would meet Uddhav and sort out issues relating to the sharing of seats between the two parties for the Assembly polls.
In related development, senior Sena leader and former leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Ramdas Kadam made the most of the BJP’s unimpressive performance in the by-polls held in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. “I am a small party worker. But, I am advising the BJP to learn a lesson or two from today’s by-poll results across the country. Now, you know for yourself whether there is indeed a (Modi) wave in the country. That’s why it is incorrect to suggest that our party president sought to demean Modi when he spoke about lack of a wave in some of the states in the country during the lok Sabha polls”
“We have utmost respect for Modiji. But, in Maharashtra, it is late Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb who commands respect among people. In the context of today’s by-poll results, the state BJP leaders should learn a lesson and accept the time-tested seat-sharing formula devised by late Balasaheb and Pramod Mahajan and ink the electoral tie-up with the Sena,” Kadam said.