How junior partners are giving MVA anxious moments ahead of Maharashtra polls

Opposition unity appears compromised in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, with some smaller constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) announcing their own candidates even before seat-sharing being finalised between the grouping’s three principal parties—the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
These smaller entities, such as the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) and Samajwadi Party (SP), have pockets of influence in the state. Their decision to refrain from putting up candidates in the Lok Sabha elections and backing MVA nominees instead had prevented the fragmentation of the anti-incumbency vote and helped the Aghadi deliver a handsome performance against the ruling Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP.
The SP, which has a base in some Muslim pockets in Maharashtra, has announced five candidates, namely, incumbent MLAs Rais Shaikh (from Bhiwandi East) and Abu Asim Azmi (Mankhurd Shivajinagar); Shaan-e-Hind, daughter of veteran former legislator Nihal Ahmed (Malegaon Central); Irshad Jahagirdar (Dhule City) and Riyaz Azmi (Bhiwandi West). The announcement was made by SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
Of the total 288 seats in the state, the SP has demanded 12 from the MVA. “The alliance with the MVA is uncertainâ€æ the MVA does not seem to be ready to part with seats,” said a senior SP leader.
The PWP, which has presence in Raigad district and parts of Dharashiv (Osmanabad), Solapur and Nanded districts, has announced six nominees. They are Chitralekha Patil, daughter-in-law of PWP general secretary Jayant Patil (from Alibag); Atul Mhatre (Pen); former MLC Balaram Patil (Panvel); Preetam Mhatre (Uran); Babasaheb Deshmukh, son of PWP veteran and former minister Ganpatrao Deshmukh (Sangola); and incumbent MLA and former bureaucrat Shamsunder Shinde (Loha).
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has already nominated former MLC Deepak Salunkhe Patil to take on Sangola MLA Shahajibapu Patil of the rival Shiv Sena. It has also fielded Surendra Mhatre and former MLA Manohar Bhoir from Alibaug and Uran, respectively.
Jayant Patil, however, said the PWP continued to be a part of the MVA and that the smaller parties would get their share after the three bigger partners had finalised their seats. “We are part of the MVA, and there are no problems [in the alliance]. These six seats are our traditional strongholds; we have been contesting from there for the past six decades,” he reasoned. Patil added that his party expected NCP (SCP) president and MVA patriarch Sharad Pawar to ensure these seats went to the PWP.
Another senior PWP leader said his party, while being a constituent of the MVA and anti-BJP by orientation, had “no option but to fight from their traditional seats”.
Patil’s defeat in the legislative council elections in July had exposed fissures in the MVA. The Mahayuti won nine of the 11 seats up for grabs. Patil, who had the Aghadi’s backing, bit the dust amidst massive horse-trading and cross-voting. In these elections, the Shiv Sena (UBT) had fielded Milind Narvekar, personal assistant of party president Uddhav Thackeray. Narvekar’s was seen as a wild-card entry at a time when the legislative council polls were posed to pick winners unopposed. Thackeray was reportedly upset at Patil and the PWP not working for the success of Sena (UBT) candidates Sanjog Waghere (Maval) and former minister Anant Geete (Raigad).