On MVA leaders' give-and-take offer, BJP makes a counter

Mumbai: Facing a tight battle over the sixth Rajya Sabha seat, the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders met BJP leaders with an offer of compromise, which the BJP rejected.

Minister Chhagan Bhujbal of NCP, Shiv Sena's Anil Desai and Congress minister Sunil Kedar met opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Friday with the offer. Bhujbal told Fadnavis that the BJP should withdraw its third candidate, Dhananjay Mahadi, for the Rajya Sabha seat, so that the elections would be unopposed and Shiv Sena's candidate Sanjay Pawar could get elected.

Bhujbal said in return the MVA would help the BJP get one more MLC candidate elected for the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections that would be held on June 20. "We have told them that they have fielded one extra seat for the Rajya Sabha polls and we have requested them to withdraw it so that the elections would be unopposed. Hence, if they withdraw their third candidate, then we would allot them one more MLC seat in the upcoming elections," said Bhujbal while speaking to reporters after meeting Fadnavis and Patil. Friday was the last date for withdrawal of nomination.


Fadnavis, however, put the ball in the MVA court by giving the same offer to them saying that if the MVA gets the Shiv Sena to withdraw their second candidate, then the BJP would help the MVA elect one more MLC. Bhujbal promised to get back after speaking to MVA leaders.

"We gave the same offer to them that they gave to us, we are confident of our numbers," said Patil.

The MVA's attempt to persuade the BJP by dangling an extra MLC seat carrot was being seen as a desperate move as the three parties are not sure of the numbers to get the Shiv Sena's second candidate elected. Both the MVA and BJP would need several independent MLAs to support their candidature and both the MVA and BJP are wooing these MLAs.

Patil alluded to this when he said, "The MVA and we are in touch with the same MLAs (independent MLAs). We have established contact with every independent MLA and have asked them to vote according to their wisdom and we hope they will do it," claimed Patil.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray would meet independent MLAs to ensure that their votes do not go to BJP.