Lok Sabha elections: Amit Shah meets late at night with Dy CM Ajit Pawar and CM Shinde to discuss seat-sharing
Late on Friday night, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met with Union Home Minister Amit Sha to talk about seat-sharing in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting started at approximately 7 p.m., according to an ANI report, and it was held in Shah’s Delhi home. Following the talks, CM Shinde and Deputy CM Pawar are said to have been seen leaving Shah’s home at 12.45 in the morning.
According to the agency report, the primary topic of discussion was the allocation of seats within the Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) under Ajit Pawar, and the Shiv Sena under Eknath Shinde lead the Mahayuti coalition.
The report said that NCP state chairman Praful Patel and BJP national president JP Nadda were also present during the meeting.
The report further said that earlier, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed confidence in the cohesion of the Mahayuti Alliance, mentioning that talks over seat distribution were underway and should be resolved shortly.
Fadnavis said, “Whenever it comes to ticket distribution for the Lok Sabha, it is based on the ground reality only.”
He emphasized that alliance members would not contest the facts upon which judgments on ticket distribution would be made. Fadnavis said that choices will be announced shortly and cautioned against guessing before official announcements were made.
“All three of our alliance’s parties are getting along well. There is still debate going on over two or three seats where there was a standoff, but they will also shortly be addressed. We are not at odds with one another in any way. Before the announcement, there shouldn’t be any conjecture regarding the seats since it seems to be inaccurate. In a day or two, you will be presented with the choice that has been made,” Fadnavis was said in the ANI report.
“Whenever it comes to ticket distribution for Lok Sabha, any party or any leader can make any demand, but when the decision on ticket distribution is taken, it will be based on the ground reality only,” he said.
