Seat sharing is still a hard nut to crack for the Mahayuti partners. A delegation of the alliance comprising Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, other leaders like Chandrakant Patil, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare flew to Delhi on Friday evening where they will will Home Minister Amit Shah on seat sharing issue of the state.
Shiv Sena demanding 22 seats
According to sources, Shinde's Shiv Sena is demanding 22 Lok Sabha seats citing their victory in 18 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal also demanded equal seats like that of Shiv Sena. Sources said that the NCP Ajit Pawar group has also demanded 16 seats in the state.
On the other hand, the BJP is not ready to give even two digit seats to both the parties. According to sources, the BJP may contest 34-36 seats, Shiv Sena will get nine seats and NCP only four seats.
Meeting with Amit Shah
Union Home Minister Amit Shah was in Mumbai a few days back. He had a series of meetings with Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar but no decision had been taken. Now, they have been called to Delhi to make a final decision. According to sources, the decision will be taken in a day or two. The BJP's central election committee will meet on March 11 when the second list of candidates will be declared.
As per reports, the NCP leaders are unhappy over their share of Lok Sabha seats. The BJP had offered nine seats in Lok Sabha and 90 seats in Vidhan Sabha elections when the NCP joined hands with the BJP alliance two years back but that promise has not been fulfilled. Many MLAs and party workers had called Ajit Pawar and Tatkare and expressed their disappointment. Now, Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare flew to Delhi for a meeting.
