Announcement about seat-sharing today
After yet another day of posturing that had unleashed speculation of a possible split between them, the saffron alliance partners on Tuesday returned to the negotiation table and began to explore the possibility of share of four smaller constituents of “Maha-Yuti” so as to increase the tally of the BJP from the earlier 119 to somewhere near 130 seats.
The saffron alliance partners, who held one round of talks between them earlier in the day, held seat-sharing negotiations with four smaller alliance partners later in the night. However, no announcement was expected in the night as the saffron alliance was planning to make a formal announcement about their seat-sharing deal on Wednesday, after the “Pitra Paksha” (16-day lunar period when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors) which ended on Tuesday.
On a day that began with intense speculation that the aggrieved BJP might snap its ties with its saffron ally over the “final offer” of 119 seats made to it by the latter, the Shiv Sena rushed its senior leaders to the 25-year-old electoral partner’s Mumbai office for last-minute effort to resuscitate the alliance that was on the verge of a split.
Talking to mediapersons after an inconclusive round of talks, senior BJP leader Vinod Tawade and Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that the saffron alliance was “intact” and was not heading for a split as was being speculated in the media.
“Notwithstanding the speculation to the contrary in the media, both the Sena and the BJP would like to continue our alliance. We have been constantly discussing new seat-sharing proposals between us.
Today, we are deliberating on a new proposal. We would like to involve our alliance partners in the deliberations on the new proposal. We intend to hold talks with our allies in the evening. Once we deliberate in the matter with our allies, we will decide on the seat-sharing arrangement between us (Sena and BJP),” Tawde said.
Echoing the views expressed by Tawde, Raut denied media reports that the saffron alliance partners were preparing to snap their ties and go it alone in the polls. “Today, we reiterate our resolve to continue our alliance. Our alliance is intact. It is not the media that will decide the fate of the saffron alliance, We — the two partners — will take a final call on it.
Both the Sena and BJP are in favour of continuing the alliance. The issue of seat-sharing will come next. We would like to our alliance partners before inking the seat-sharing deal. That’s why we are meeting leaders of other Maha-Yuti partners in the evening to finalise the seat-sharing pact,” Raut said.
Earlier, in what as a surprise, senior Sena leaders including Raut, Subhash Desai and Anil Desai drove down to BJP’s office “Vasant Smruti” at Dadar in north-central Mumbai, where they held negotiations BJP’s Maharashtra election in-charge OP Mathur, State party president Devendra Fadvanis, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Eknath Khadse and his part in the Council Vinod Tawde on what both sides described as a “new proposal”.
Though both the Sena and the BJP declined to specify as to what was the “new proposal”, their saffron leaders conceded that the new proposal involved seats falling in the quota of four constituents in the “Maha-Yuti” (grand alliance) - RPI (A), Raju Shetty-led Swabhimani Paksha, the Mahadeo Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and Vinayajk Mete-led Shiv Sangram. The saffron leaders decided to defer their talks to later in the night as most leaders of other constituents were away from Mumbai.
Though there were conflicting versions as to the nature of a “new proposal” that came up for deliberations between the saffron alliance partners, the fact remained that the proposal involved reduction in the number of seats (18) allotted to four constituents so as to increase the seat tally of the BJP which had been offered 119 seats by the BJP.
“Since the Sena has made it clear that it wants to contest 150-plus seats, we are looking at ways to take our tally from the final Sena offer of 119 seats to 130 seats that we want to contest in the polls. The only way that this can be achieved is by pruning the share of the smaller parties. That’s we are taking the leaders of the smaller allies. We would like to reduce their seat share now and compensate in some other ways subsequently,” a senior State BJP leader said.
At a convention of elected representatives from all over Maharashtra held on Sunday, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had made a “final offer” of 119 seats to the BJP. Under the formula that Uddhav came out with, the Sena Shiv Sena would contest 151 seats, while the BJP would get 119 seats and the remaining 18 seats would be given to four other constituents in the Maha-Yuti.
One of the versions that made rounds in the saffron alliance circles on Tuesday was that under the new seat sharing formula, the Shiv Sena would get 150 seats, while the BJP would be allotted 130 seats and the remaining eight seats would be set aside for the four allies.
Another version said that the saffron alliance partners would allot anywhere from 10 to 14 seats (as against the earlier 18 seats) to the four alliance partners in the Maha-Yuti.
However, most of the smaller constituents in the Maha-Yuti made no bones about their unwillingness to accept the new formula.
On his part, an upset RPI (A) president Ramdas Athavale said that if his party walked out of the Maha-Yuti, then the saffron partners would not be in a position to capture power in the State.
Mahadev Jankar of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha threatened to walk out of the alliance if it was not allotted seven seats. “We are happy that the Sena and BJP have come together to contest as alliance. If we are not given seven seats, we are contemplating in terms of going it alone in the polls. In such an event we plan to contest as many as 125 seats,” Jankar said.