Pune Lok Sabha bypoll lays bare friction over seat-sharing in MVA

Pune Lok Sabha bypoll lays bare friction over seat-sharing in MVA; the alliance’s ability to resolve conflicts among allies over contesting key seats faces test ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha election

The impending Pune Lok Sabha bypoll has brought into the open tensions over seat-sharing among the allies of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi — the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) — ahead of the 2024 general election.

With 48 seats up for grabs in Maharashtra, the top leadership of the three parties had said ‘elective merit’ will be the watchword while allocating seats.

However, NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s recent remark that the stronger party ought to contest from Pune has irked the Congress, which has won the seat 10 out of the 17 it has gone to the polls. Mr. Pawar pointed out the abysmal record of the Congress in Pune in the civic and Assembly polls, and the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when it lost to the BJP by over three lakh votes.

“The Congress has been losing the Pune Lok Sabha seat for a long time. As per my knowledge, it has not won the seat since [former Congress Union Minister] Vitthalrao Gadgil won it… If our alliance partner is consistently losing the seat, then it should be given to another party that is better placed. The party whose strength is more should get that [Pune Lok Sabha] seat. We currently have the necessary strength. We [the NCP] have 40 corporators in the Pune civic body while the Congress has only 10,” Mr. Pawar said.

The Pune seat has now fallen vacant following the demise of BJP leader Girish Bapat in March. It followed the death of two other local party leaders — former Pune Mayor Mukta Tilak and Pimpri-Chinchwad strongman Laxman Jagtap — leaving the party rudderless in the district. The Congress is now sensing an opportunity to reclaim its lost bastion given the leadership vacuum in the BJP.

Given the Brahmin influence over the city’s history since the 18th century, the seat has favoured candidates from the communnity from all parties, particularly of the Gadgil clan. Stalwart Congressmen N.V. Gadgil and his son Vitthal Gadgil, both Union Ministers in the Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi cabinets, respectively, won the seat four times between them.

“N.V. Gadgil won the seat in 1951 and his son won in 1980, 1984 and 1989. Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi won the seat in 1996, 2004 and 2009, while Vithal Tupe won in 1998. After Vitthal Gadgil, Congress won the seat four times. So, Ajit Pawar’s statement that the party never won after Vitthal Gadgil are completely off the mark,” said Ramesh Iyer, Pune City Congress general secretary and spokesman.