Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Mahayuti allies still in talks over 8 seats, says BJP's Bawankule

Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday said talks are still on among the three Mahayuti constituents over seven to eight seats for the next month's state assembly polls.

Talking to reporters here, the former state minister said the BJP would release the second list of candidates on Sunday.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and the counting of votes will take place three days later.

Two of the three Mahayuti allies - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena - have separately released their first list of candidates, while the third partner, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has come out with two lists of nominees so far.

"Discussions are still on over seven to eight seats. We are fighting like a family - taking everyone, including the elder brother and younger brother, along. The BJP's second list will be released tomorrow and we will also come out with a joint manifesto," he said.

Bawankule mocked the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's reported formula of all three allies contesting 90 seats each.

"We heard that Rahul Gandhi fired the state leaders for mishandling the seat-sharing talks," he claimed.

He said the MVA has no development agenda unlike the Mahayuti alliance.

"Instead of a development vision, the opposition alliance discusses who will be the chief minister and who will get the minister's post. MVA's fake narrative, which worked during this year's Lok Sabha elections, will not work now," he said.

Bawankule said Uddhav Thackeray's dream of becoming the chief minister again will not be fulfilled as his allies don't support his wish.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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