MVA Faces Yet Another Hurdle in Maharashtra as Parties Squabble Over 3 Seats

In Maharashtra, three seats have become the thorns in the flesh of the MVA alliance, with Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena unable to reach a consensus.

The state leadership of the Congress is miffed as Thackeray, without consulting with the party, announced Chandrahar Patil as the Sangli candidate. Since the last two elections, the Congress has been losing this seat to BJP even though it was their traditional turf.

Congress leader Vishal Patil is the grandson of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil and has the support of the state leadership for this seat. To solve the issue, former minister and Congress leader Vishwajit Kadam visited Delhi and met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge a few weeks back, requesting that to intervene in the issue.

According to sources, Vishwajit was assured that the issue would be resolved soon but it has been more than two weeks and the Congress leadership has not been able to take any decision yet.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders like Sanjay Raut have started paying visits to Sangli for their candidate. Raut, in his last visit, criticised the Congress and its local leaders, targeting Vishal Patil who had contested the 2019 election from the Swabhimani Party against BJP.

“Why did the Congress leader contest the 2019 polls from another party ticket if they are so concerned about the Congress,” he asked.

This did not go down well with state Congress chief Nana Patole who said Raut should refrain from making any comments and that the issue can be resolved after talking with the central leadership. “Raut is not an ordinary party worker,” he added.

Apart from Sangli, Bhiwandi and Mumbai South Central seats have also become hurdles. The Sharad Pawar faction has already announced their candidate for the Bhiwandi seat which the Congress wants to contest from. The Congress, meanwhile, has a strong candidate for Mumbai South Central and wants Shiv Sena UBT to give the seat to them but the latter has given the ticket to Anil Desai. This is the first time Desai will contesting the Lok Sabha polls.