Maha Yuit to start discussions on seat sharing for Lok Sabha within 15 days
Mumbai: NCP leader Praful Patel on Friday said that the seat-sharing talks of Maha Yuti will start within the next 15 days. He also said that irrespective of which party gets how many seats to contest, all three parties including BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) will work together to ensure the third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We have not started discussing seat sharing for Lok Sabha elections. But we meet in the next 15 days to finalise the seat sharing,” Mr. Patel said.
Accepting that the BJP will play the big brother’s role in the alliance, the NCP leader said, “BJP has 23 sitting MPs, so we have to accept that it will be the big brother. The BJP has the maximum number of MPs in the alliance and therefore it will be the leader. All of us have accepted Mr. Modi as the face of our alliance. All three parties will co-operate with each other on the seat sharing.”
The Maha Yuti, which is a part of the National Democratic Alliance at the national level, has set a target of winning at least 45 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
The NCP leader also hailed the order passed by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on the disqualification petitions against 54 MLAs of both factions Shiv Sena. He said the order was passed after following due process of law and those criticising it are upset only because it did not favour them.
Mr. Narwekar will next conduct a hearing on the disqualification petitions against nine NCP legislators including Ajit Pawar. Replying to a question about whether the same yardstick will be applied in the petitions against NCP leaders, Mr. Patel said that their case is distinctly different from the Shiv Sena case.
“Ajit Pawar has been appointed as the party president by the majority of party officebearers and elected representatives. We have also submitted the party’s decision to the Election Commission of India. Our case is completely different from the Shiv Sena,” the NCP leader said.
