Maharashtra Election 2024: It has not yet been decided who is the elder brother in the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi alliance in the Maharashtra assembly elections. During the press conference on Wednesday, Congress, Uddhav faction of Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP announced equal distribution of seats among the three parties. All three parties have announced to contest equally on 85-85 seats.
Seat sharing has definitely been announced by the three parties but the real issue is regarding 15 seats. These 15 seats are going to decide who will ultimately be the elder brother in the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance. Experts say that despite several rounds of talks, this mystery has not been solved yet.
Distribution of 255 seats among three parties
During the press conference called by the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance on Wednesday, Uddhav faction leader Sanjay Raut and State Congress President Nana Patole had announced equal seat distribution among the three parties. Both the leaders said that 85-85 seats have been divided equally among the three parties. He said that after 270 seats, the remaining 18 seats will be given to allies and small parties.
If the total of seats distributed among the three parties is taken then it is only 255 and the picture regarding the remaining 15 seats is not yet clear. The distribution of these remaining seats will decide who will be the elder brother in the alliance. In this matter, neither Congress, Uddhav group nor Sharad Pawar group is ready to back down. Therefore the matter of these seats is still stuck.
Now there is a competition between the three parties to become the elder brother.
Ever since the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared in Maharashtra, a situation of tussle had arisen regarding the assembly seats. During the Lok Sabha elections, Congress contested 17 seats and won 13 seats. Uddhav faction could contest elections on 21 seats and win only nine. On this basis, Congress has been claiming the maximum number of assembly seats since the beginning, but the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena is not ready for this. Uddhav Sena has also been claiming more than a hundred seats.
Actually, both Congress and Shiv Sena’s Uddhav faction want to become the elder brother in the alliance. In the ongoing fight between the two parties, Sharad Pawar is also not desisting from showing his power. On the basis of his political power, Pawar has won 85 seats and he is trying to win some of the remaining seats as well.
Increasing resentment over delay in seat distribution
The strength of NCP leader Sharad Pawar can also be understood from the fact that he has made a compromise on the formula of equal seat distribution. It was only after Sharad Pawar’s approval that Sanjay Raut, Nana Patole and Jayant Patil announced the formula of 85-85 seats.
In this way, an agreement has been reached between the three parties on 255 seats, while it has been decided to give 18 assembly seats to parties like Samajwadi Party, PWP, AAP and Left etc. There is also resentment among smaller parties regarding the delay in seat distribution. Samajwadi Party has demanded 12 seats while the party has declared its candidates on 5 seats.
The effect of CM’s face war is also visible
Voting is going to be held in Maharashtra on November 20 while the last date for filing nominations is October 29. In such a situation, there is very little time left to file nominations but still the issue of seat distribution has not been resolved. The CM face has not been announced by the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance.
Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been pressurizing him to declare himself the CM face, but Congress and Sharad Pawar are not ready for it. Both of them believe that the leader of the party which has the most number of MLAs elected will get the chance to become the Chief Minister.
For this reason also, there is a competition among the three parties included in the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance to win as many seats as possible. After sloganeering by Congress workers regarding CM face, Congress leader Nana Patole has made it clear that the final decision in this regard will be taken by the party high command. However, now only the distribution of the remaining 15 seats will decide who is ultimately the elder brother in the alliance.
