Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 27: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) faction is on the verge of collapse with the Sena (UBT) declaring 17 candidates on its own and the Congress protesting against it for not honouring the “alliance dharma.”
In a double whammy, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), a party of the backward classes headed by Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the framer of the constitution Dr BR Ambedkar, tore his party away from the MVA and announced formation of a third front after talks with the recent Maratha reservation agitation leader Manoj Jharange Patil.
After protracted talks, seat-sharing among MVA coalition partners broke into open rift on Wednesday, as the Shiv Sena (UBT) went ahead with announcing 17 candidates which included some of the seats also coveted by the Congress.
The development comes at a time when the MVA coalition whose members have been rocked by serious disagreements over seat-sharing. The alliance has so far not announced its formula for Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats.
When asked about his party unilaterally declaring candidates for 17 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut told reporters that “such things happen” in an alliance, adding that these dynamics would not affect the MVA. “We had a sitting MP in Ramtek but the Congress candidate has even filed a nomination. So it’s fine. Alliances work like this,” he said. Ramtek MP Krupal Tumane is now part of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
However, Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat has expressed his displeasure at the Shiv Sena (UBT) list, saying the ally should have avoided contentious seats like Sangli and Mumbai, about which discussions were still ongoing. “It is important that everyone should follow the coalition dharma. We hope that the Sena will rethink its decision,” he said in a media statement.
The Congress leader and former MP Sanjay Nirupam, who was eyeing the Mumbai North West seat but is also believed to be contemplating to switch over to the BJP, blamed the Congress leadership for inaction stating that the party was bending at the behest of the Shiv Sena (UBT) which was out to wipe out Congress from urban Maharashtra.
Mr Thorat said the Sena (UBT) should have avoided declaring candidates for Sangli and seats in Mumbai where discussions were still on. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad, said to be one of the ticket aspirants, said she had conveyed her unhappiness to the party leadership. Former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam said he will “wait only for one week” to hear what the party leadership has to say. “I have all options open,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday morning posted on X the list of the 17 candidates, namely for Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane, Parbhani, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shirdi, South Mumbai, North West Mumbai, North East Mumbai, Sangli, Hingoli, Dharshiv, Nasik and Maval seats.
Mr Sanjay Nirupam urged the party to consider pulling the plug on their alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT). “The way Shiv Sena UBT has taken 5 seats of Mumbai. It seems that there is a plan to bury Congress in Mumbai. It seems that Shiv Sena wants to force Congress to kneel,” the senior Congress leader told reporters. “I appeal to the Congress leadership to intervene otherwise break the alliance with Shiv Sena. If Shiv Sena thinks it can fight alone then it is making a big mistake,” Mr Nirupam added.
Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), will vote in five phases starting from April 19.
The three parties which are part of the opposition alliance in Maharashtra – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) – have been unable to finalise a seat-sharing plan despite a flurry of meetings before polling in the state begins.
Sanjay Nirupam also hit out at Sena’s choice of candidate, which includes Amol Kirtikar, who was today served a notice by the Enforcement Directorate for an alleged multi-crore ‘khichdi’ scam during the Covid pandemic. “Shiv Sena has forced an accused of the Khichdi scam as a candidate. I will not work for a Khichdi thief,” he said.
Recently, Mr Nirupam also made remarks on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest which were not in line with the party’s official. While the Congress condemned the arrest and attacked the BJP over the matter, Sanjay Nirupam called for Kejriwal’s resignation after his arrest.
With most of the MPs of the erstwhile undivided Shiv Sena having sided with the party led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde following the split in 2022, the latest list shows that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) has had to fall back on former public representatives — ex-MPs, MLAs and mayors.
Since 2014, Sangli, once considered a Congress bastion, has been represented by the BJP MP Sanjaykaka Patil. While the Congress continues to insist on the seat, the Shiv Sena has so far refused to budge, announcing wrestler Chandrahar Patil as its candidate for the seat. This, according to sources in the Congress, could lead to a “friendly contest” there.
“The issue will now be resolved at the Delhi (central) leadership level, most likely by Wednesday itself. Otherwise, there will be a triangular contest between the BJP, us, and the Shiv Sena (UBT). In a bilateral contest, we were confident about winning it. Now it is a risk,” a senior Congress leader said.
Mumbai South Central, currently represented by Rahul Shewale of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, is a similarly contested seat. According to party sources, the Congress wants to field its Mumbai president and former Maharashtra minister Varsha Gaikwad from there but the Shiv Sena (UBT) has now announced Anil Desai, a confidant of Thackeray whose Rajya Sabha term ended this year, as its candidate for the seat.
Of the 18 MPs that the formerly undivided Shiv Sena had in the 17th and current Lok Sabha, only five are currently with the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) while the rest have gone to Shinde’s party.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has retained all five of these MPs — former heavy industries and public enterprises minister Arvind Sawant from Mumbai South, Omraje Nimbalkar from Dharashiv, Vinayak Raut from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Rajan Vichare from Shinde’s home ground Thane, and Sanjay Jadhav from Parbhani in Marathwada.