RPI gets one Rajya Sabha seat, SSS 2 Lok Sabha seats

MUMBAI: BJP and Shiv Sena have jointly decided to give one seat from their Rajya Sabha quota to the Republican Party of India (RPI), their new ally in Maharashtra. The two partners have also decided to offer two Lok Sabha seats - Hatkanangale in Kolhapur and NCP chief Sharad Pawar's constituency Madha in Solapur district - to Raju Shetty's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), which has recently joined the allianceahead of the upcoming general elections.

BJP head Rajnath Singh and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray finalised these decisions on Wednesday, in a meeting held at Singh's home in Delhi for about half hour without informing most leaders of their respective parties as well as the media. They decided that RPI chief, Ramdas Athawale, a former MP would be sent to the RS and in return his party would campaign for the alliance in Maharashtra, a senior Sena leader said.

With the RPI and SS coming on board, the leaders were hard-pressed to accommodate the new partners in the seat-sharing process. In 2009, Sena had contested 26 seats while the BJP fought on 22. Sena's RS member Sanjay Raut was present at the meeting, the leader said, adding that Singh and Thackeray discussed the strategy for the RS polls in February and the seat-sharing formula for the general elections.