MVA, VBA Meet To Discuss Seat Sharing, Make Contradictory Claims

 Mumbai: After Ashok Chavan’s exit from the Congress party, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday held its first meeting to discuss seat sharing for Lok sabha seats in Maharashtra. The meeting was held at a five star hotel in South Mumbai. The MVA has claimed that they have reached the final stage of the seat sharing in Tuesday’s meeting and it will be finalised in a day or two.

The meeting was attended by Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, Lok Sabha member Vinayak Raut, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) state chief Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad and VBA (Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi) vice president Dhairyavardhan Pundkar among others.

This was the third meeting of the MVA over the seating sharing of the Lok Sabha. Ashok Chavan represented the Congress in the earlier two meetings..

The Maharashtra Congress chief said, “We have given a proposal to Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA, which will revert back to us by Wednesday. A final decision will be taken after that.”

However, there was still no consistency in the claims made by the VBA and MVA constituents. Mr Pundkar said his party has given a proposal to the MVA parties, who will revert within a day or two. “We have given a proposal to the MVA constituents demanding the list of seats they have discussed among themselves and which are not disputed. They have promised to give the list of these seats within one or two days. Once we receive the list, we will have deliberation over it and accordingly give our proposal (in connection with the seats) to them.”

Speaking with the reporters after the meeting, Sanjay Raut said that everyone is curious about seat sharing of MVA. “I want to say that we have reached a consensus on all the 48 Lok Sabha seats. Our draft is almost ready as to who will contest where. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's representatives came today and I think a positive discussion was held with them. We are also having a dialogue with the VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar. I am sure the Wednesday meeting will be our last meeting and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is going to be with us to fight the dictatorship in Maharashtra and across the country,” he said.

However, Mr Raut clarified that the seat-sharing pact would not be announced on Wednesday. “Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and senior Congress leaders will announce the seat-sharing at an appropriate time,” the Shiv Sena UBT leader said.