A bumpy ride for Maharashtra opposition

With Left parties seeking more seats and only two days remaining for filing nomination, Opposition alliance is in troubled waters. 

Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had planned to make an announcement of the grand alliance with smaller parties on Wednesday. However, the plan got postponed since they could not iron out their differences. 

While Congress and NCP had decided to contest 125 seats each, the remaining 38 seats have been left for the smaller allies like Peasant and Workers Party (PWP), Samajwadi Party, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Hitendra Thakur, Republican Party of India (Kawade Group), etc.

Interestingly, the Opposition had called for a press conference on Wednesday to declare the grand alliance and seat-sharing at 3 pm which got postponed to 5 pm. 

At the conference, former Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that many issues regarding seat sharing have popped up. “We are trying to resolve all issues with the smaller allies. They are demanding for a few more seats, thus, delaying the announcement of the Opposition alliance. We are hopeful that the things will work out smoothly,” he said.

He further said that once the differences are sorted, a joint manifesto for the state assembly polls will be released.

Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azami said only three seats have been allocated to them against their demand for six seats. “We have been offered Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar (Mumbai), Bhiwandi and Aurangabad seats. However, we do not want to divide secular votes, so we are ready to sacrifice a few seats,” he said.