BJP, Sena to have equal seat-sharing: minister

Saffron alliance partners in Maharashtra— the BJP and the Shiv Sena— will go to the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, scheduled during September-October, by sharing equal number of seats.

"The BJP and the Shiv Sena will contest 135 seats each, an equal share and leave 18 seats for its allies," said senior BJP leader and Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.

Patil's disclosure assumes significance as he a close confidante of Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah and is also the number two in the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led saffron alliance government in the state.

Patil, a senior strategist of the BJP, also claimed that Fadnavis is the "natural choice" of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the people for the post of chief minister.

The Shiv Sena or other allies— Republican Party of India led by Ramdas Athawale, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha of Mahadev Jankar and Shiv Sangram led by Vinayak Mete— have not yet reacted to Patil's statement, which has come ahead of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature and an impending Cabinet expansion.

In 2014, the BJP and the Shiv Sena contested the polls together but split ahead of the state Assembly polls. Later, they came together to form a government.

In March 2019, they decided to contest both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together.

In the Lok Sabha polls, BJP contested 25 seats and won 23 while Sena contested 23 and won 18.

The Sena has got the heavy industries ministry in the Narendra Modi government.

"We have 122 sitting MLAs and have support of 8 Independents whereas Sena has 65. We are getting just five additional seats," Patil said.

It may be recalled that after Shah, Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray sealed the deal and made the announcement, several Sena leaders had claimed that the party will get the post of chief minister.