MVA to contest all future polls unitedly, no seat-sharing formula

Mumbai, March 16 (IANS) Enthused by the winning formula in last month’s Kasa Peth (Pune) by-polls, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have agreed in principle to contest all future elections — civic, assembly and parliament — unitedly, party officials said here on Thursday.

The decision came after a series of meetings held among the top leaders of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) in the past few days.

The final seal came at a meeting of the MVA top brass and their district and state leaders held here on Wednesday night, with a call to go out and work in tandem before the elections.

However, Congress Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe said that “no seat-sharing formula” has been finalised either for the 2024 Lok Sabha (48 seats) or Assembly (288 seats) elections, and it will be taken up later.

Londhe flatly discounted certain television reports claiming that a seat-sharing figure had been agreed upon for next year’s Lok Sabha elections with Sena (UBT) purportedly contesting the highest number 21 seats, followed by NCP’s 19 and Congress’ 08.

The move to go to the hustings together follows a similar understanding to hold joint rallies across the state over the next few months for the upcoming civic elections.

The first of these rallies shall be held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on April 2, Nagpur on April 16, and Mumbai on May 1 — coinciding with the Maharashtra Day celebrations — Pune on May 14, Kolhapur on May 28 and Nashik on June 3.

NCP president Sharad Pawar and state unit president Jayant Patil, Sena (UBT) president and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Congress state President Nana Patole have individually appealed several times on the need to pose a united Opposition challenge to unseat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre and in states.

–IANS

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