BJP and Shinde Sena at odds over 55:33 seat-sharing

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

On Thursday, the fifth core committee meeting between the Shinde Sena and the BJP for the municipal corporation elections concluded without any decision. According to reliable sources, in this meeting the BJP claimed 55 out of 88 Hindu-majority seats, while the Shinde Sena was reportedly willing to give up only 33 seats.

Sources said that the chief minister and deputy CM had directed both parties to contest the municipal corporation elections together as an alliance. Consequently, discussions on seat-sharing have been ongoing between the two parties for the past eight days, with four meetings held until Wednesday. The fifth meeting on Thursday took place at the residence of BJP city president Kishor Shitole.

From the Shinde Sena side, only former mayor Vikas Jain, district chief Rajendra Janjal and Rishikesh Jaiswal attended, while from the BJP side, MP Dr Bhagwat Karad, OBC welfare minister Atul Save, MLC Sanjay Kenekar, Shirish Boralkar and Sameer Rajurkar participated in the negotiations.

During the meeting, the BJP insisted on claiming 55 seats, while the Shinde Sena was not ready to allow contesting beyond 33 seats. Sources also revealed that the BJP has staked a claim even on seats won by the Shiv Sena in the previous elections. However, the Shinde Sena’s proposed fifty-fifty formula was reportedly not acceptable to the BJP.