BJP and Shiv Sena are to contest the Maharashtra Assembly elections on 21 October together, say reports. Ending all speculations over seat-sharing, BJP is going to contest the majority share with 144 out of 288 seats and the Shiv Sena with 124 and 18 have been allotted to the smaller allies. The post of the deputy chief minister, as per the agreement, could be allocated to a leader from the Sena, according to CNN-News18.
Reports also claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen on both parties contesting together this year and the formal announcement of the alliance is expected on Sunday (29 September).
The BJP and Shiv Sena banners.
These reports come a day after a meeting chaired by BJP working president JP Nadda in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by BJP president Amit Shah, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil among other prominent party leaders.
Both the alliance parties were in loggerheads with each other over seat-sharing till recently.
Earlier this week, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the tussle was "as tedious" as the partition of India, while party chief Uddhav Thackeray, said they would "wait for the chief minister to prepare a list of Shiv Sena candidates and seats they can contest".
On 24 September, Patil had expressed confidence that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is in fine health and they would get 220 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.
"Discussions on the alliance is at the last stage. Those who are thinking that alliance will not happen are going to be disappointed. I am confident that we will get 220 seats in the upcoming assembly elections," he had told a press conference.
In 2014 polls, Shiv Sena had contested on 282 seats and won 63, while the BJP had contested on 260 and won a majority with 122 seats. The polling this year is scheduled to take place on 21 October and the results are to be declared on 24 October.
With inputs from agencies
September 27, 2019 at 12:38PM
No comments:
Post a Comment