Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat, Sanjay Raut and Ashok Chavan.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: Facing multiple challenges and intra-party and inter-party differences, the leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the I.N.D.I.A opposition bloc in Maharashtra, would meet in Mumbai on Thursday to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats - next only to 80 of Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting is also expected to discuss the inclusion of Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana in the MVA formation.
The meeting comes a day after Mamata Banerjee announced that Trinamool Congress will not align with the Congress in West Bengal and Bhagwant Mann made it clear that AAP too will go alone in Punjab.
The formulae of 2014 and 2019 general elections would not be applicable this time because of the splits in the 57-year-old Shiv Sena and 25-year-old NCP.
If one looks at the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP Democratic Front (DF) were pitted against each other.
In 2014, the BJP contested 24 seats and won 23 while Shiv Sena contested 20 seats and won 18, while the Congress contested 22 seats and won two while the NCP contested 21 seats and got 4.
In 2019, the BJP contested 25 seats and bagged 23 while Shiv Sena contested 23 and got 18, the Congress contested 25 seats and won one seat while the NCP contested 19 seats and won four.
However, the state politics changed after the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls when the Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena split with BJP, its saffron alliance partner for 30 years and joined hands with the DF to form the MVA.
In June-July, 2022, the Uddhav Thackeray-headed MVA was toppled by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde who became the Chief Minister with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis becoming the Deputy Chief Minister.
In June-July, 2023, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP was split and his nephew Ajit Pawar became the Deputy Chief Minister.
After the split, in Shiv Sena, the ruling Shinde-group commands a strength of 13 MPs while the Shiv Sena (UBT) five.
On the other hand, the Sharad Pawar-Supriya Sule-led parent group commands a strength of three while Ajit Pawar one.