Maharashtra Assembly Polls: No end to deadlock as BJP rejects Shiv Sena's demand of 126 seats

In what seems to be no end in sight for the tussle over seat-sharing for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the BJP on Thursday rejected Shiv Sena's demand of 126 seats. 

In a compromise to its earlier demands, the Sena had agreed to contest on 126 of the state's 288 seats, if it was given the post of Deputy Chief Minister following the victory in the state polls. 

Sources told Zee Media that BJP president Amit Shah rejected Shiv Sena's demand for 126 seats and Deputy CM post for Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray.

With this, the two parties are back to square with no agreement in place for the October 21 election.

Earlier during the day, the Shiv Sena agreed to contest 126 seats, giving 144 seats to the BJP and 18 seats to other smaller allies. In a trade-off, the Shiv Sena said it would accept deputy CM's post. 

Speculations have been rife about the political debut of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya who is likely to be appointed deputy of Devendra Fadnavis after the victory, which both the parties are sure of getting. Shiv Sena is gearing up to field Yuva Sena chief from the Worli assembly constituency in the ensuing assembly election.

Shiv Sena had earlier demanded a 50-50 seat-sharing formula, refusing to contest less number of seats than the BJP.  

In a bid to put pressure on the BJP, the NDA constituent had reportedly started interviewing candidates for all 288 constituencies, including Nagpur, which is the seat of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Currently, the BJP and Sena have 122 and 63 seats, respectively, in Maharashtra assembly.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had last week dismissed reports of a rift between the two parties, saying they would finalise the seat-sharing agreement for the assembly elections within one or two days. 

However, a meeting between leaders of both the parties on Monday remained inconclusive.

Crucial meeting of Maharashtra BJP's Core Group

A meeting of Maharashtra BJP's Core Group with party president Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda was held in Delhi on Thursday, ANI reported. 

Quoting sources, ANI reported that the meeting was held to discuss candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, besides issues related to alliance with the Shiv Sena.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Pankaja Munde, BL Santhosh, and other leaders attended the meeting.