Sharad Pawar, Congress' Marathon Meet On Seat Share Goes Past Midnight

The meeting of Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi that was expected to finalise the seat sharing deal by Tuesday, is running past midnight, indicating that a resolution is still some way off. While the leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena left around midnight, saying all is well, veteran leader Sharad Pawar is still in a huddle with the state Congress leaders. 

Sources said there is still no consensus on 15 seats in North Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Mumbai, among them are South Nagpur, Amravati, Mumbai's Ghatkopar West, Byculla, Versova, Kurla and Bandra East; and North Maharashtra's Parola-Aerodual and the Nashik West seat.

The parties, though, are still hoping for a consensus after the meeting and an announcement will be made on Wednesday, Sanjay Raut, senior leader of the Shiv Sena UBT, said earlier Tuesday.

The Congress and Shiv Sena UBT, facing a deadlock over a handful of seats in Mumbai, Nashik and Vidarbha, have been hoping to break the deadlock with the good offices of Sharad Pawar, the chief of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the moving force behind the three-party alliance since its inception. 

With his intervention, the state leaders of the Congress and the Shiv Sena UBT had come back to the drawing board, reports said. 

Since morning, hectic rounds of meetings were held -- one of the first being between Congress's Balasaheb Thorat and Mr Pawar. Another round was held in the morning between the Sena UBT and the Congress. 

Depending on its conclusions of he current meet, an announcement is likely within the next couple of days, said Congress's state chief Nana Patole.

On Monday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said that the MVA had reached a consensus on 210 out of 288 assembly seats, while Nana Patole claimed the figure was 96.

The two parties have been bargaining for days as Mr Patole held out for 125 seats while the Sena (UBT) pushed for 100 seats each for itself and the Congress, and 88 for Sharad Pawar's party. 

Then came the issue that has been at the heart of the Congress grouse - "Whichever party is strong and meritorious will fight in the respective constituency," Mr Patole said. This is the reason why the Congress is holding out for the eight seats in Vidarbha that Mr Thackeray's party wants.

Mr Raut has said while there is no doubt about the Congress having a strong base in Vidarbha, "we also had 4-5 MPs from there". "If we also get 1 or 2 seats, then there is no harm in it," he has said.

Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23. The term of the current assembly will end on November 26.