Mumbai:Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday cautioned the Congress that haggling among allies must not be allowed to reach a breaking point, amid an impasse over seat-sharing among Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) parties in poll-bound Maharashtra.
Addressing a press conference, Thackeray said, “Whenever there is an alliance, there are bound to be some disputes over the seat allocation. But the matter should not be stretched to the extent of it getting broken. The matter has not reached me yet. I will look into it.”
The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will go for polling on November 20 with counting of votes on November 23.
Seat-sharing talks among partners in the Opposition alliance -- the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — were in final stages and a deal could be sealed by Saturday or in the next two to three days, Thackeray emphasised.
Thackeray asserted that the political scenario in Maharashtra had changed and people have decided to bring the Opposition MVA to power in the Assembly polls. While Thackeray appeared cautious in his remarks over reaching a consensus, his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut was harsher in his criticism aimed at Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole.
While Raut called Maharashtra Congress leaders “incapable of taking decisions,” state Congress chief Nana Patole hit back at him saying “If Raut is not even listening to Uddhav Thackeray then it’s his issue.”
The dispute between the Sena UBT and Congress in the seat-sharing talks is over the Vidarbha region of the state on which both allies have been staking claims. While the Sena UBT is demanding it should get at least nine to 10 seats in the Vidarbha region, Congress leaders like Patole and Vijay Wadettiwar, who are from Vidarbha, have opposed the demand.
In the meeting held on Thursday night regarding the seat allocation, there were reports of Patole and Raut verbally clashing with each other over the issue.
Commenting on it, Raut said instead of state Congress leaders he would talk to top Congress leaders in Delhi to finalise the issue. “There is very little time in hand and the decisions on the seat sharing must be expedited. I think the state leaders are not capable of taking any decision on seat sharing and they have to send a list of everything to Delhi. It is important that the discussion should take place with the central leadership of Congress,” he said.
Meanwhile, Patole expressed his dissent and said he does not want to talk about what Raut said. “Our top leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi are not in the discussion of seat sharing. They do not attend the meeting. Same thing (goes) with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are not in the meeting. We discuss on their behalf and convey the information to our superiors. Now if Sanjay Raut does not listen to Thackeray, that is his question,” he said.
