Mumbai: The final seat-sharing deal of Maharashtra’s ruling BJP-led Maha Yuti would be stamped in New Delhi on Monday.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the chief leader of Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis of BJP and Ajit Pawar, who is the NCP President, would be flying to the national capital where they would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda when the final formula would be announced for Maha Yuti.
Maharashtra accounts for 48 seats next only to 80 of Uttar Pradesh.
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.
After the split, in Shiv Sena, the ruling Shinde-group commands a strength of 13 MPs while the Uddhav Thackeray-led 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.
At a time, when the BJP has set the target of 370-plus for itself and 400-plus for NDA, the national saffron party is not taking any chances and would like to contest the lion’s share of the seats.
While BJP is expected to contest 30-32 seats, for Shiv Sena and NCP, it would be in double digits and single-digit respectively.
While Shinde is expected to get around 10-12 seats, Pawar would get 4-6 seats.
Published 10 March 2024, 11:05 IST