Amit Shah Holds Late-Night Meet On Maharashtra Seat Tangle, Talks Positive: Sources
NDTV
The meeting with Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP began around 10.15 PM on Tuesday.
Finalising seat-sharing in Maharashtra, which sends the second-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, has proven to be tricky for the National Democratic Alliance, with all three key partners - the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP - pushing for a higher number of seats than the others are willing to concede. With BJP's chief troubleshooter and Union Home Minister Amit Shah holding a late-night meeting on Tuesday with leaders of the other parties, sources said a breakthrough is expected soon.
Party sources said the meeting started around 10.15 pm and Mr Shah held a discussion with Deputy Chief Minister Pawar in the presence of BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the first 30 minutes, after which the two leaders left. The next 50 minutes saw talks between the Home Minister and Chief Minister Shinde.
Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP wants 30 to be able to achieve its twin targets of winning 370 seats nationally and taking the NDA to the 400 mark. Sources said the party is willing to leave 12 seats from the Shiv Sena and six for the NCP, a prospect the other partners of the Mahayuti - as the alliance is known in Maharashtra - are not happy with.
