MVA to seal seat sharing deal in Feb-end: AICC leader Ramesh Chennithala

Mumbai: The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will finalise its seat-sharing deal for the 48 Lok Sabha seats at its final meeting on February 27-28, AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala said here on Thursday.

The seat allocation talks with the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), and other allies are in the final stages without encountering any hurdles and the seats deal shall be sealed next week, he asserted.

On Wednesday, NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar had announced in Kolhapur that the allocation of 39 constituencies has been finalised and the remaining 9 seats shall be completed by the weekend.

Speaking to mediapersons along with state Congress President Nana Patole, Mumbai chief Prof. Varsha Gaikwad and other senior leaders, Chennithala reiterated that the MVA is going strong and will strive to win maximum number of seats in the state. "Discussions with all friendly parties are proceeding smoothly. We have accepted all the points for the manifesto suggested by Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi President Prakash Ambedkar," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Patole said that as the elections approach, the Opposition parties and their leaders are being systematically targeted through various central investigation agencies, but no action is initiated against BJP leaders facing serious corruption charges.

He cited the instances of former MVA leaders like Ajit Pawar, Ashok S. Chavan, who faced allegations in various scams but after they joined hands with the BJP, they have been rewarded in different ways.

Patole said that "the BJP is claiming to win 400 seats in the next Lok Sabha polls, but of its current 303 MPs, 165 are from different opposition parties, including 67 from Congress who were accused of corruption by the BJP but are now shielded by the same BJP".