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NCP (Ajit faction) president and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Scarcely has the dust of the Lok Sabha election settled than the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is girding up for the Maharashtra Assembly polls to be held later this year.
The tone and tenor of the crucial meeting of the State executive of Mr. Pawar’s NCP faction in Mumbai on Monday saw Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with other senior leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare already making noises about getting a larger share of seats from its partners in the Mahayuti government — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena — in the Assembly election likely to be held in October this year.
“Elections are a test for party workers. No one should be over-the-top with joy following an election victory, nor should one be disheartened by defeat,” said Mr. Pawar while addressing his party workers at the meet.
Minister Chhagan Bhujbal made it clear that the NCP would have to be given a larger share of seats in the Assembly election than it had received in the general election this year.
80-90 constituencies: Bhujbal
“Only if we are given 80-90 seats [of the total 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra] can we hope to win 50 or 60 of them. Whatever may have happened this time [Lok Sabha seat-sharing process], but in the coming election, the NCP should get its rightful share of seats. When we entered [the Mahayuti coalition], we were told we would be given our fair share of seats,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
Mr. Pawar also staked claim to the Satara Rajya Sabha seat during the course of his address.
Mr. Pawar, who split the NCP founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar in July last year, had been given only four Lok Sabha seats — Baramati, Shirur, Raigad, Dharashiv — of the total 48 in the Mahayuti’s seat-sharing formula.
The BJP, being the largest party in the State in terms of number of MPs, had fielded candidates on 29 Lok Sabha seats. However, Mr. Shinde had driven a hard bargain with his saffron ally, managing to secure 15 Lok Sabha seats in the Shiv Sena’s kitty.
This had upset Mr. Pawar’s NCP faction, which had been importuning the BJP high command for at least eight Lok Sabha seats.
‘BJP will contest most seats’
Meanwhile, responding to Mr. Bhujbal’s remarks, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP would get the maximum seats to contest the Assembly election as it was numerically the biggest party.
At the same time, Mr. Fadnavis assured that the BJP’s Mahayuti allies would be accorded due respect in the seat-sharing process.
“Leaders of all the three parties of the Mahayuti alliance will sit together to decide a proper seat-sharing formula for the Assembly election. Obviously, BJP will get the maximum number of seats as it is the biggest party. However, our allies will be shown due respect in the process,” he said.
In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, the BJP had won 105 seats, while its then ally — the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray had won 56 seats.
The undivided Nationalist Congress Party, which was part of the opposition Congress-led UPA, had won 41 seats.
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