MVA seals poll pact in Maharashtra

Mumbai: The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls with the Shiv Sena (UBT) getting the major chunk of 21 seats, while the Congress will contest 17 and the NCP (SP) 10 seats.

The Congress gave up its claim on the contentious Sangli and Bhiwandi seats, which will now be contested by the Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP), respectively. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said there are no differences among the allies over any seat and the distribution arrangement for the 48 parliamentary seats in the state has been arrived at unanimously.

While Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray said the larger goal of the alliance was to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), state Congress president Nana Patole said it has decided to be “large-hearted” to achieve this objective. Pawar, Thackeray and Patole announced the poll pact after weeks of hectic negotiations. Addressing a press conference at ‘Shivalaya’, the Shiv Sena (UBT) office in south Mumbai, former state chief minister Thackeray said the seat-sharing deal has been reached and that in an alliance, winning is important and defeating the BJP is the goal.