Seat-sharing stalemate: BJP waits for Sena's new proposal

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it hasn’t received any new proposal on seat sharing from Shiv Sena for the October 15 Maharashtra assembly polls as its state unit prepared to put the list of candidates before the central parliamentary board in Delhi on Sunday.

“We have not received any proposal (on seat sharing) from Shiv Sena,” state BJP poll in-charge Om Mathur said after a meeting of the party’s state core committee at leader of opposition Eknath Khadse’s official residence.

“We will submit list of our candidates at the BJP parliamentary board meeting in Delhi tomorrow,” Mathur said. “We discussed our seats. We are discussing on seats wherever discussions are needed,” he said.

Asked about Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks that the Sena had sent its proposal on seat sharing to BJP, Mathur said, “We have not received any new formula (from Sena). At yesterday’s meeting (with Aaditya Thackeray and Subhash Desai of Shiv Sena) it was decided that we will be told about when to sit for the next meeting. So far, we haven’t got any intimation about that.”

Mathur said the party will hold discussions on seat allocation for associate parties. “Tomorrow, there is a parliamentary board meeting in Delhi. We will go with our list of candidates to Delhi,” he said.

Asked what would be the next course of action if talks on seat sharing with Sena fail to materialise, Mathur said, “We are going to Delhi for tomorrow’s meet with our list of candidates.”

Image: State BJP poll in-charge Om Mathur arrives at Eknath Khadse's home ahead of a meet. Photograph: ANI/Twitter