Maharashtra Assembly polls: BJP-Shiv Sena pact announced

After weeks of being locked in an intense battle over seat-sharing, the BJP and Shiv Sena on late Monday evening announced their alliance for the Maharashtra assembly elections. However, while senior Shiv Sena leader and industries minister Subhash Desai and BJP state unit chief and revenue minister Chandrakantdada Patil, made a formal announcement of the 'Mahayuti' (grand alliance) through a press release, the two parties are quite silent on the seat and power-sharing terms.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was at Nagpur where the Congress legislator from Gondiya Gopal Agarwal joined BJP, announced that the MahaYuti will contest all 288 seats and will come back to power.

Maharashtra is scheduled to go to polls on October 21.

Fearing rebellion they have not mentioned the allocation of seats and it is likely that it will be announced on October 4 which is the last day for filing nomination.

"The details about who will fight how many seats will be announced soon," said Patil and Desai in the signed statement. The announcement comes a day after he development comes a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray handed out mandatory A-B forms — a form which mentions the official party candidate — to his party's candidates, including to son Aaditya Thackeray.

Even though BJP has turned down Shiv Sena's demand for 144:144 seat-sharing formula for the 288 assembly seats and sharing of Chief Minister's post for two and half years, the saffron party may settle at 123 to 126 seats. BJP is expected to contest 144 seats while 18 seats will be offered to Republican Party of India (Athavale), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Shiv Sangram and Rayat Kranti Sanghtana. However, BJP has laid down a condition that these parties will have to contest the assembly poll on BJP symbol.

Insiders from BJP and Shiv Sena hinted that they are yet to sort out differences over the exchange of few seats among themselves. Besides, BJP is not reluctant to accept Shiv Sena's demand to give deputy chief minister's post. Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, who announced to fight from Worli assembly seat on Monday, is the frontrunner for the post.