Discussions were held by the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leadership with the Thackeray cousins over an alliance for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Marathi media reports said. Although the initial, lengthy discussions failed to provide a favourable outcome for the NCP, another round of talks is likely on Saturday, the reports added.
It was NCP (Sharad Pawar) state president Shashikant Shinde, MP Supriya Sule, and senior leader Jayant Patil who met Raj and Uddhav Thackeray on Friday in the hope of sealing an alliance deal for the BMC elections. On Wednesday, 24 December, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray announced that his party will join forces with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the BMC elections.
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According to Marathi media reports, the NCP hoped to secure 25 seats for itself by joining the alliance of the Thackerays. However, Raj and Uddhav were open to allotting only 15 seats to the NCP, which was not agreeable to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituent. The NCP has a negligible presence in half the seats that were included in the list by the Thackerays, making it a difficult pill for them to swallow, Loksatta said in a report. The NCP was firm on demanding seats where it stands a chance of fielding strong candidates for 15 January, the report added. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has a total of 227 seats.
The NCP currently has nine seats in the civic body and wants the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) to allow it to contest all these sitting wards again. The party has also reportedly submitted a list of additional wards where it enjoys strong influence, from which the remaining sixteen seats were to be allocated. However, the report added that the Thackerays are yet to take a decision on this demand. When the two sides meet again on Saturday, the NCP is expected to demand 15 seats favourable to the party if the 25-seat tally is too much for the cousins to yield, the Loksatta report said. Following these discussions, an official announcement is likely either late on Saturday evening or on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Raj and Uddhav Thackeray said that they will ensure a Marathi person becomes the next Mayor of Mumbai, but stopped short of revealing details of the seat-sharing agreement between the two parties for the high-stakes BMC elections.