No breakthrough for MVA in sharing Mumbai seats

MVA leaders from Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP during the gathering of MVA workers on August 16. File pic/PTI

There was no outcome to the MVA's seat-sharing talks for Mumbai on Monday. This was the second round of talks between the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP-SP and others.

According to people in the know, the Sena has demanded at least 20 out of 36 seats in Mumbai. The Congress also wants more, but not surpassing the numbers wanted by Uddhav Thackeray's party. It wants at least 16, but others are willing to leave 12-14 seats for the Congress that had finished third in Mumbai in the last elections. BJP and undivided Sena had fought the Congress-NCP alliance, sharing the spoils. BJP had a little more than Sena.

In MVA, some contentious seats like Bandra East, Byculla and Trombay have multiple claimants from among the MVA main partners and Samajwadi Party. Some 16 seats that were lost by MVA parties in 2019 are still being discussed.

According to information, NCP-SP wants more than five seats, but it may end up getting less in the bargain for more in the rest of Maharashtra. The Congress may also settle for less to get more in the regions where it performed well in the Lok Sabha polls. Sena (UBT) has more stakes in Mumbai and its metropolitan area, and hence, it is persistent in having a larger share.

A day before, the Sena (UBT) had claimed to have convinced the partners to have more than 20 seats for itself, but the partners denied any such commitment.