Eager to finish seat-sharing with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners at the earliest, the Congress high command has empowered senior state leaders to negotiate with the allies. 

A decision to this effect was taken following a demand that talks be held at the state level because some Congress allies had bypassed state leadership to make unilateral announcements during the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) tussled over the candidates for Sangli. Uddhav Thackeray had announced his candidate while the Congress wanted to contest Sangli. Ultimately, a Congress rebel won from there. Local Congress leaders were upset over seat-sharing for Mumbai and MMR (Bhiwandi).