Ahead of Lok Sabha Polls: Differences crop up as Maha Vikas Aghadi allies start seat-sharing discussions

Differences are cropping up among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies in Maharashtra as they have begun seat-sharing talks for next year's parliamentary polls. Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena are particularly bickering over the seats of 13 Sena MPs who have joined the Eknath Shinde camp, people aware of the development said.

Congress is looking to wrest the Mumbai South Central seat that Sena had won in 2019. Its MP, Rahul Shewale has joined the Shinde camp since. Congress is keen on the seat that has a large percentage of Dalit voters as it considers the constituency to be one of its strongholds. In 2009, Congress' Dalit leader Eknath Gaikwad had managed to defeat Sena heavyweight Manohar Joshi here. With Shewale joining the Shinde camp, Congress believes that it is on a strong footing to wrest the seat from the Uddhav faction, Congress leaders said.

Mumbai South Central is one of more than half a dozen seats that Congress is keen to demand from the Uddhav group.


Another is Ramtek, where again the MP, Krupal Tumane has joined the Shinde camp. Kunal Raut, who heads Youth Congress in the state, is keen to contest from Ramtek and has laid a public claim on it. It's not just the seats where Sena MPs have joined the Shinde camp that are in contention. There are other seats, too. For instance, Congress is also eyeing the Mumbai South constituency currently occupied by Arvind Sawant of the Uddhav group. Ironically, one of the arguments that Congress makes to claim these seats is that Sena had won them in 2019 only because of its alliance with BJP. "The seats in Mumbai South and several other seats are Congress strongholds and Sena had won in 2019 only because they were in an alliance with BJP," claimed a Congress leader who did not want to be identified. "Also, now that the party has split, the same arithmetic does not remain," the person added.