Maharashtra: Dy CM Ajit Pawar meets Amit Shah, demands 80-90 seats in assembly polls

Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in Delhi. The meeting was held to discuss the seat-sharing of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the state for the upcoming assembly polls and the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP's) share in the seat-sharing pie.

The ruling Mahayuti alliance includes Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, BJP, and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar. During his meeting with Shah, Ajit Pawar demanded 80-90 seats for the NCP in the upcoming assembly polls as promised when the party became a part of the ruling alliance.

He also sought seat distribution at the earliest and asked to avoid lingering around till the last minute like the Lok Sabha polls. After his meeting with Amit Shah, Ajit Pawar also met deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and other senior BJP leaders in the national capital, India Today reported citing sources. 

The Ajit Pawar-Amit Shah meeting comes after Vivek, a Marathi weekly linked to the RSS, blamed NCP's alliance with the BJP for the saffron party's loss in the Lok Sabha elections. 

Ajit Pawar's checklist for NDA

NCP-Ajit has quite the checklist for its allies ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has demanded to retain 54 seats which the undivided NCP won in the 2019 assembly polls. Besides this, Pawar is aiming to contest 20 against the Congress from Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Northern Maharashtra (Khandesh). 

He also has his sights on 4-5 assembly seats from Mumbai against the Congress. These seats are dominated by the minority vote bank. Moreover, he is also confident of getting 3 independent and 3 Congress MLAs to contest on his party ticket, sources added. 

Will Ajit's demands cause fissures in Mahayuti? 

Ajit dada's demands are likely to cause some tremors in the ruling alliance. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is determined to fight on 100 seats. The BJP, being the 'bigger partner' in the alliance, set a target of contesting on 160-170 seats in its core committee meeting.

The BJP has also set its sights on those 78 seats that are the strong suites of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Recently, the saffron party also held its co-ordination meeting, which was attended by state RSS functionaries as well. 

RSS Mumbai Mahanagar Sahkaryavaah Sanjay Nagarkar, Vilas Bapat, Konkan Praant chalak and nine members of core committee of each division in state attended the meeting. The meeting is important as RSS-backed publications -- Organiser and Vivek -- have chastised the party for joining hands with the Aijt Pawar-led NCP.