The seat-sharing talks between the BJP and Shiv Sena started off on a disappointing note as the parties failed to reach a consensus over the share of seats that should go to smaller alliance partners for the upcoming state Assembly elections. Even if this gets resolved, the next meeting to be held this weekend is expected to hit a hurdle as the major parties are looking at bigger shares of the 288 Assembly seats.

Even as BJP President Amit Shah has endorsed the willingness to enter an accord and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is also of the same opinion, the future of the parties- unity depends on the formula that both approve ahead of the elections to be declared after Ganeshotsav. The two had parted ways in 2014 when their talks fizzled out. The Congress and NCP too went separate ways making the 2014 Assembly elections a four-corner fight. Five years later, the BJP and Sena contested the Lok Sabha polls together again, so did the Congress and NCP. The saffron parties have pledged to be in alliance for the Assembly polls also. Affected by defections, the Congress and NCP have already reached the advanced stages of seat-sharing.