MVA consensus on 90% seats says Sharad Pawar

Mumbai : A day before the deadline for filing of nominations, NCP (SP) head on Monday said the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has reached a consensus over 90 to 95 per cent of the total 288 seats in the state.

Speaking to reporters, Pawar, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said their fight was against those who engineered splits in rival political parties and those who compromised with their ideology. Those who are in power did not solve the problems of the people, he claimed. The Maharashtra assembly elections are scheduled on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23. The last date for filing of nomination papers is October 29. The MVA comprises the NCP (SP), Congress and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT). The Shiv Sena split in June 2022, causing the collapse of Thackeray’s MVA government, while the Sharad Pawar-founded NCP broke into two factions after his nephew Ajit Pawar joined the ruling alliance in July 2023. “

In March this year, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis countered the jibes he was subjected to over his “I will be back” assembly poll campaign line in 2019 by claiming he did return to power (in June 2022 following the rebellion by Eknath Shinde) and that too “after splitting two parties”.

Meanwhile, after filing the nomination on Monday from Baramati assembly, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar got emotional while addressing a rally.

Pawar alleged that the NCP patron Sharad Pawar had created a split in the family and fielded a candidate against him.

“I previously admitted to making a mistake, but it seems like others are now making errors too. My family and I had agreed to file the form in Baramati first, but that didn’t happen. Despite the challenges, we managed to improve the situation. My mother has been very supportive, and she even advised that they should not nominate anyone against Ajit Pawar. However, I was told that Saheb (Sharad Pawar) instructed someone to file a nomination against me.... Saheb created the split within the family. ... I just want to say that politics should not be brought to such a low level, because it took the generations to be united and it doesn’t take a single moment to break the family..,” he said.