MVA wrangles over Mumbai, Sangli seats; NDA struggles over Nashik
Congress leadership is trying to arrange a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Thackeray is in Delhi to participate in the Aam Aadmi Party-led INDIA bloc rally. Congress leaders in Maharashtra are keen on the meeting as there is deep discontent within the party in the state after the UBT Sena declared its candidate for Mumbai North West and Mumbai South Central seats and put up a candidate in Sangli Lok Sabha constituency also.
The Mumbai South Central seat has also caused a heartburn within the Congress as the party was keen to field Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad from the constituency. While Gaikwad has not come out against the Sena (UBT) decision, however, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who was keen to contest from Mumbai North West, has given an ultimatum of a week to his party to resolve the issue or «else all options would be open». Similarly, in Sangli too, Congress leaders have expressed apprehension that Vishwas Patil may contest as a rebel if the issue is not resolved.
On the other hand, the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) are also in a similar boat with a number of meetings happening but the issue not being resolved so far. Even though deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had a more than three-hour-long meeting with CM Eknath Shinde late last night, sources said the seat issues have not been resolved as there are more than half a dozen seats in the state are being disputed. NCP (Ajit) leaders have claimed that at least two seats out of these like
