Seat-sharing talks going on smoothly among MVA allies: Uddhav

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asserted on Saturday that seat-sharing talks among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies are proceeding smoothly and a formula will be decided after final discussions with the Congress in Delhi.

“There are no problems and all is well in the MVA. Seat-sharing talks are taking place smoothly. As per the decision arrived after the last INDIA bloc meeting, seat-sharing talks will be finalised in Delhi,” Thackeray told mediapersons here.

His remarks came amid contradictory statements made by the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and its ally Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) led by Prakash Ambedkar in the past one week, sparking political speculation.

Thackeray said that while talks with the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) are in the final stages, discussions will be initiated with the Congress and VBA soon.

“We are making efforts to have a joint meeting of the MVA allies and the VBA soon to discuss and hammer out the issues,” Thackeray said.

The VBA is keen to join MVA-INDIA bloc and has made several overtures, but has apparently been spurned by the Congress, though the NCP (SP) has maintained a neutral stance.

Thackeray added that he had discussed the matter with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved smoothly.

Dismissing reports of squabbles in seat-sharing among the MVA allies, he said the Congress is yet to give its proposal.

“I will not allow any problems to develop on this count… We are working to save democracy and the constitution, and all the parties are in this together,” declared Thackeray.

On Ambedkar’s formula of 12 seats each for the VBA and the MVA’s three partners, Thackeray said he has not received any such proposal, but he will meet and discuss the matter with the VBA leaders.

Thackeray also said that as per his information, the Bharatiya Janata Party may opt for conducting the Lok Sabha elections before April 30, as it could ‘favour’ the ruling alliance at the Centre.