Consensus on 70 to 80 per cent of seats in Mahayuti for contesting Maharashtra assembly elections: Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Chandrashekhar Bawankule. File Pic

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said the constituents of the Mahayuti alliance - Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP - have arrived at a consensus on contesting 70 to 80 per cent of the 288 seats for the Maharashtra assembly elections, reported news agency PTI.

He hinted that winnability will be the criterion for distributing poll tickets.

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"The three leaders of Mahayuti (Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, and Ajit Pwar) should be congratulated for vowing to win Maharashtra assembly elections unitedly instead of quoting numbers. We will agree upon fielding winnable candidates," the BJP leader told reporters in Nagpur on Monday, reported PTI.

He was replying to a query on the NCP, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, purportedly staking claim to 70 to 80 seats.

A consensus has been reached on 70 to 80 per cent of seats and Mahayuti leaders will soon address a joint press conference, he said.

Bawankule asked Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange to respond to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks on "removing" reservation.

"Rahul Gandhi is trying to remove the present reservations; what will happen to the Maratha quota? Jarange should respond to Rahul Gandhi's remarks," Bawankule told reporters, reported PTI.

The BJP has accused the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha of making "anti-reservation" remarks during his visit to the US.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday asserted that the seat-sharing formula between the Mahayuti partners will be finalised soon.

The Maharashtra assembly elections are likely to be held in November.

In the current assembly, the BJP is the single largest party with 103 MLAs, followed by Shiv Sena 40, NCP 41, Congress 40, Shiv Sena (UBT) 15, NCP (SP) 13 and others 29. Some seats are vacant.

BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule accuses MVA of deceptive politics in Maharashtra polls

Earlier, Maharashtra BJP chairman Chandrashekhar Bawankule stated that opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders engaged in deceitful politics, akin to "Shakuni neeti," to mislead the state's people and win the Lok Sabha elections. He expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the upcoming elections with its emphasis on development.

Bawankule remarked that the MVA's triumph through misleading techniques will not influence people in the forthcoming elections. He emphasised that people will vote for development over casteism.

(With inputs from PTI)