Mumbai, Aug 7 (PTI) The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will hold its first joint meeting of party workers and office-bearers on August 16 in central Mumbai ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, its leaders said.
The meeting will be take place at the Shanmukhananda Hall at Sion in central Mumbai, they said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the leaders of three MVA allies – the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – who met at ‘Shivalaya’, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party’s office in south Mumbai, to discuss their strategy for the assembly polls likely to take place in October.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, told reporters that the MVA leaders discussed a common minimum programme and manifesto with an aim of providing a good alternative government.
“The MVA alliance provided a good government and the entire country took note of its work during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Talking to PTI, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former MP Vinayak Raut said the alliance partners are likely to discuss retaining the seats they won in 2019 irrespective of the split in the Shiv Sena and NCP.
There are 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. The Congress had won 45 seats, undivided Shiv Sena 56 and undivided NCP 54.
“We will discuss seats other than the ones where our MLAs were elected in 2019 even if Shiv Sena and NCP legislators have switched sides. There may be swapping of some seats,” he said.
The focus of remaining seats will be winnability of candidates, he said.
Apart from Wadettiwar and Raut, the first meeting of the opposition alliance was attended by Leader of Opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat, state Congress chief Nana Patole, NCP (SP) leaders Jayant Patil, Sunil Bhusara, Rajesh Tope and Anil Deshmukh.
Talking to reporters on Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s visit to Delhi, Patole said this was not the first time that the former chief minister has gone to the national capital.
“He had gone there in the past also. He is meeting senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, in Delhi. There is no need to interpret this meeting differently,” he said.
“Sonia Gandhi is an important leader in the country, a symbol of sacrifice who refused the prime ministerial position. Under her leadership, the Congress-led UPA government was in power twice in the country. If Uddhav Thackeray is meeting her, what’s wrong with that? When the final meeting on seat allocation is held, discussions will take place with Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar,” Patole said. PTI MR NP
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