Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has confirmed that his party and the Congress have reached a seat-sharing agreement in 45 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. However, talks between the Congress and the NCP are stalled on the three crucial seats of Nandurbar, Aurangabad and Ahmednagar. According to NCP insiders, the party may concede Ahmednagar, if the Congress allows NCP to contest from Aurangabad.
Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of Opposition in the assembly, has already announced that he is contesting the Ahmednagar LS seat whether or not the Congress offers him a ticket. Vikhe-Patil wants the NCP to leave the Ahmednagar candidacy for his son. “If Congress is ready to exchange Aurangabad for Ahmednagar, we will do it,” assured a senior NCP leader.
According to the seat-sharing formula, Ahmednagar was with the NCP while Aurangabad was with the Congress in the 2014 LS polls. In Nandurbar, Vijaykumar Gavit, the then NCP minister, had joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with his daughter Dr Heena Gavit, just before the 2014 LS polls. Dr Heena won the LS polls as the BJP candidate, while her father won the assembly poll from Nandurbar. “Gavit and his daughter are likely to re-join the NCP, hence the party has claimed the Nandurbar seat,” said a NCP insider.
Chandrakant Raghuvanshi, Congress member of the Upper House from Nandurbar said, “The Congress will not bow before the NCP. We will contest the seat and either Bharat Gavit or Advocate KC Padvi, the sitting legislator of Akkalkuva, will be party candidate.” Bharat is the son of Manikrao Gavit, former union minister and nine-time MP from Nandurbar. Meanwhile, Pawar has said the NCP would give one seat from its quota to Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, while the Congress will part with some seats for the Left parties.
Shetti is the MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur district. Addressing speculation about the alliance between the NCP and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Pawar said his recent meeting with Raj was personal. He said, “Raj met me to extend an invitation for his son’s wedding. People do not always meet for political reasons. His son is getting married. Since this was the first auspicious occasion in his house, he wanted to personally invite me.”
