Mumbai: As the deadlock continues over seat-sharing between BJP and Shiv Sena for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, smaller partners of their ‘Mahayuti’ alliance are unhappy with the latter’s new proposal for resolving the matter.
Expressing his displeasure over just seven seats being offered to the junior partners of the alliance, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS) leader Raju Shetti is said to have mockingly remarked that Sena and BJP should agree to give the chief minister’s post to RPI leader Ramdas Athavale and RSP leader Mahadeo Janker.
“If you can’t give us enough seats (to contest), at least make our leader the chief minister,” Shetti had said in an apparent dig at Sena over its proposal.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena last night submitted a fresh proposal to its alliance partners wherein it would keep 151 Assembly seats for itself, give 130 seats to BJP and leave a residue of seven seats for the junior alliance partners.
The saffron combine has four junior partners: Shetti’s SSS, the Janker-led RSP, Vinayak Mete’s Shiv Sangram and Athavale’s RPI.
“During our meeting with the alliance partners, we made a fresh proposal of leaving seven seats for our junior members.
But they are unhappy with the proposal. “We have to iron out the differences with the junior partners and thus will be meeting again on Wednesday to hear them out,” Sena leader Ramdas Kadam said late last night after a meeting of coalition members at a suburban hotel in Mumbai.
Athawale, was reportedly miffed over Sena’s proposal and left midway during the discussions.
Shetti said that giving seven seats to four parties was an ‘insult’ to them and that would not be accepted.
“If the Sena distributes seven seats among four alliance partners, it will be an insult to us. Sena and BJP can fight elections on all 288 seats and satisfy their egos,” he had said.
