Even as signals of a thaw in the stand-off between the Shiv Sena and BJP over seat-sharing have started emerging, the Mahayuti alliance seems to be once again on the verge of falling apart, with the four smaller parties threatening to walk out over being given just seven seats.
Sena and BJP struck a consensus on Wednesday by agreeing to contest from 151 and 130 seats respectively, leaving just seven for their four smaller allies. These parties in turn, took umbrage to it, forcing the coalition to walk the tightrope again. They have demanded at least 18 seats for them.
Sources from both Sena and BJP admit that if push comes to shove, the two will have to dilute their stand to ensure that the alliance with these sub-regional players, who can swing fortunes in some seats, stays intact.
Sena-BJP functionaries met farmer leader and Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti (Swabhimaani Paksha), Dhangar leader Mahadeo Jankar (Rashtriya Samaj Paksha), Vinayak Mete of Shivasangram and RPI (A) chief Ramdas Athavale on Tuesday night, but the talks ended in a stalemate.
On Wednesday morning, BJP state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis met Mete, after which Jankar, Shetti and his associate Sadabhau Khot and Mete met. The trio then claimed that the saffron allies had "back-stabbed" them. They threatened to form their own front and declare a list of their candidates.
The threat led to an urgent meeting of Sena and BJP leader with Uddhav Thackeray, following which Fadnavis said that "the BJP has decided that we will fight the polls with all our allies," and that they were "trying their best to let them stay with us".
Later in the day, at a meeting of all the parties, Shetti sought that the formula be reworked, with the BJP getting 120 seats while keeping asie 150 and 8 seats for Sena and the four parties respectively.
"We have rejected the proposal to fight just seven seats. We want at least 18 seats," RPI leader and littérateur Arjun Dangle told dna.
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