Cracks appear in Maharashtra coalitions as Sena and NCP threaten to go it alone rather than give up seats, Maharashtra political news 2014, Maharashtra election updates, latest and political news updates of Maharashtra
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 21:03
Cracks appear in Maharashtra coalitions as Sena and NCP threaten to go it alone rather than give up seats
The BJP and the Congress found themselves cornered on Monday as their allies in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the NCP respectively, said they would rather go it alone in the upcoming polls than yield ground in the seat-sharing debate.
Both the coalitions, the Congress-NCP's 15-year-old 'Democratic Front' and the BJP-Shiv Sena's over-25-year-old 'Mahayuti', have been engaged in intense discussions during the past few months over who will contest from how many seats in the October 15 elections.
A resurgent BJP, which alone won one less than half the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats this year, has been angling for an equal seat distribution among the two allies: 135 each after setting aside 18 for other alliance partners. The NCP, on the other hand, has made it clear that it won't settle for fewer than 144 seats.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday that he wants his party's partnership with the BJP to continue, but "not at the cost of the principles on which the alliance was formed". "It is not possible to give into the BJP's demand for more seats," Uddhav said.
He stated that the seat distribution formula of 171-117 was founded on the agreement that the party with more MLAs would also get to pick the Chief Minister from its ranks. The contract was aimed at establishing the Shiv Sena as the bigger player in the arena of state politics."This formula has remained since the time of (the late party founder) Balasaheb (Thackeray)," Uddhav added.
src:dailymail.co.uk