Maha BJP leaders demand party contest 170-plus seats

The two-day BJP core committee meeting in Mumbai saw Bharatiya Janata Party leaders discuss the necessity to contest at least 170 to 180 seats in the forthcoming assembly elections. The demand is intriguing and would cause a lot of stress between its allies, as Shiv Sena leaders have also stated in a party meeting that they want to contest 100 seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit) is vying for 80 to 100 seats.

The BJP currently holds 105 assembly seats in Maharashtra's 288-member assembly, while the Shiv Sena has 37 MLAs (previously 40) and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP has 39 MLAs.

Stepping up its claim, the Shiv Sena in a party meeting on Thursday appointed 110 observers for 100 assembly constituencies.


The demand and the tussle for more seats from allies is causing jitters in the BJP camp as the same seat imbroglio led to candidates being declared quite late during the recent Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra. In some seats the seat imbroglio took so long that the candidates were declared just 20 days before the Lok Sabha polls which impacted the performance of the ruling parties.

Incidentally the BJP's two day core committee also saw leaders dwell on the 'non cooperative' allies for the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. The NCP (Ajit) was specifically named and the party leaders said that while the BJP had joined hands with Ajit camp, a few party leaders and several MLAs from the Ajit camp were clandestinely working for the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP during the Lok Sabha polls.

There was also mention of lack of help from the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena in at least two Lok Sabha constituencies.

With the Ajit faction of the NCP seething after similar such attacks from RSS ideologues in Organiser and other RSS-affiliated publications, the BJP is keen to keep its two allies in a good humour before the assembly polls.