THE Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) aiming to dethrone prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming general election received a major boost on Tuesday (9) when they completed the seat-sharing deal in the western state of Maharashtra.
As per the arrangement, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) will contest in 21 seats while the Indian National Congress will field candidates in 17 seats. The remaining 10 seats will see candidates from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar. All these three parties are members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra Development Block) alliance which was in power in the state between 2019 and 2022 when an implosion in the Sena saw it losing power.
Maharashtra, India's most developed state, sends 48 members to the Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the Indian parliament, the second highest after the northern state of Uttar Pradesh that sends 80.
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While there were some issues over the deal talks over which went for some time, it was eventually settled with Sena (UBT) retaining the contentious seat of Sangli. The Congress received the Mumbai North constituency.
The deal was announced at a press conference in Mumbai jointly by Thackeray, a former chief minister of Maharashtra; Pawar, also a former chief minister of the state and former federal minister; and Nana Patole, chief of the Congress's Maharashtra unit.
"Everybody wishes to fight for seats. There is nothing wrong with it. Winning should be given priority," Thackeray said.
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In a social media post, his Sena (UBT) said the agreement happened on the "auspicious day" of Gudi Padwa, also known as the Marathi New Year.
"We have pledged to fight for the protection of the Constitution, and we intend to fight unitedly against the dictatorship in the future," it said.
The deal could not be concluded earlier since the parties of the MVA could not reach consensus over a few important seats.
Last month, a leader of the Congress and a former state minister said that the Sena's decision to declare candidates for 17 constituencies before the finalisation of the deal "angered" his party's workers. He added that the Congress wanted a "friendly fight" in six constituencies to which Sena's senior leader Sanjay Raut said such fights would only help Modi's BJP.
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