The Maha Vikas Aghadi has called a meeting at YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai. Senior leaders of NCP-SCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress will be present at the meeting. The leaders are likely to address a press conference after the meeting amid reports of a rift in the alliance.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) supremo Sharad Pawar, and Congress state president Nana Patole will address the media as they prepare for legislative council polls in four seats later this month and the Legislative Assembly election later this year, according to a India Today report.
After Lok Sabha election results where Congress emerged as the biggest party in Maharashtra winning 13 Lok Sabha seats, Patole had claimed that it will contest on 150 seats in the Assembly polls after which the central leadership asked the state unit to not provoke the allies.
Similarly, Uddhav Thackeray announced all the candidates for the four seats in the upcoming legislative council elections for the Teachers' and Graduates' constituencies without consulting MVA allies.
However, the issue was resolved with the mediation of Sharad Pawar. As per the seat-sharing deal finalised by the two Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents, the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest Mumbai Graduates' constituency, Mumbai Teachers' constituency and Nashik Teachers' constituency, while the Congress will fight the Konkan Graduates' constituency and Kishore Jain of the Thackeray-led party has been asked to withdraw from that seat.
Two seats each for the council from the Graduates' constituency (Mumbai and Konkan) and the Teachers' constituency (Mumbai and Nashik) will go to polls on June 26. The results will be announced on July 1.
The MVA alliance demonstrated a remarkable performance in Maharashtra in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, winning 31 out of 48 seats. Congress achieved the highest tally with 13 seats, Shiv Sena secured nine, and the NCP (SP) garnered eight seats.