Photo of RSP president Mahadeo Jankar.
With the BJP and the Shiv Sena still squabbling over seat sharing for next month's assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) - a part of 'Mahayuti' (grand alliance of opposition parties) - has asked the two allies to finalise the seat-sharing formula by Monday, threatening it would be out of the alliance otherwise.
"If the differences over seat-sharing (between Sena and BJP) are not resolved by tomorrow, I and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghana led by Raju Shetti will contest all the 288 Assembly seats jointly," Mahadeo Jankar, RSP President, told Press Trust of India.
The RSP leader said, "We will wait till tomorrow." He also added in that case, his party and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana would contest 144 seats each.
The Shiv Sena, in its latest offer, has proposed that the BJP should contest 119 seats, but the latter has rejected the proposal.
Mr Jankar said the state BJP leaders, who are in Delhi for the parliamentary board meeting, were expected to discuss the situation with Sena president Uddhav Thackeray later tonight.
"We expect the issue to be resolved by tomorrow, otherwise I and Raju Shetty will part ways with them," he said.
Ramdas Athavale of the Republic Party of India (RPI), another member of the Mahayuti, demanded 20 seats for smaller allies. "Out of the 20 seats, RPI should get ten, five each from Sena and BJP. We should not allow the break-up of Mahayuti," he said.