Even before the dust settles on the Lok Sabha polling in Maharashtra, the BJP’s latest ally, the NCP (Ajit Pawar) has demanded more seats to contest in the forthcoming Assembly election. The Ajit Pawar-led group, officially recognised as the original party after breaking up with the Sharad Pawar-led faction, contested only four seats in the Lok Sabha elections, eleven less than the BJP’s other ally, Shiv Sena (Shinde).

The party’s senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal made a demand to this effect on Monday at the NCP’s review meeting that also discussed a way forward. “There shouldn’t be any hassle like the Lok Sabha seat-sharing. We have joined the Mahayuti as we have been promised 80-90 seats (of 288 Assembly seats). We must get a respectable share,” demanded Bhujbal, asking Ajit to tell the BJP leadership about it immediately. “We will have to tell them (BJP and Shinde Sena) about the numbers we want. We will win 50-60 seats only if we get 80-90 seats. They may tell us to take 50 because we have 50 MLAs. But this should not happen,” he said.