Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar call the shots in MVA’s seat-sharing deal as ceding of Sangli reflects waning Congress influence

As Maharashtra’s Opposition, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, formalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha election after two months of parleys and wrangling on Tuesday, the deal saw Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) — a regional entity — overshadowing the Congress, a national party.

As Maharashtra’s Opposition, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, formalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha election after two months of parleys and wrangling on Tuesday, the deal saw Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) — a regional entity — overshadowing the Congress, a national party.

Mr. Thackeray’s faction of the Sena, which was left with only 16 MLAs and five MPs after its split in 2022, got its way in the seat-sharing deal, with the decision to contest 21 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the State. Despite having 44 legislators (the largest number of MLAs among the three MVA parties), the Congress could claim only 17 seats, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) has bagged 10 seats.

The ceding of the Sangli Lok Sabha seat in western Maharashtra to the Shiv Sena (UBT), despite the latter having hardly any presence in the constituency, has become symptomatic of the resentment among the Congress cadre while bringing into sharp relief the failure of the the party’s collective leadership to strike a harder bargain in staking claim to its erstwhile bastions.

The seat-sharing arrangement also reflects the waning of the Congress’ influence in the ‘sugar heartland’ of western Maharashtra, comprising Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, and Solapur districts. This influence was manifested by stalwarts like Y.B. Chavan and Vasantdada Patil, who helmed the party in the State for decades.

In western Maharashtra, a thunderous silence fell over Congress party office in Sangli after the seat was officially ceded to the Sena (UBT), which has fielded neophyte Chandrahar Patil, a wrestler.

The resentment within younger Congressmen like Vishwajeet Kadam, the MLA of Palus-Kadegaon (in Sangli) and Vishal Patil, the aspirant for the Sangli seat, is palpable, with both leaders primed for rebellion, said sources. The yielding of Sangli has been especially demoralising for the party cadre, given that Mr. Vishal Patil is the grandson of late CM Vasantdada Patil and that Sangli still has a large body of the Patil family’s followers.

By the MVA’s arrangement, the Congress has now been largely confined to parts of the Vidarbha region and the erstwhile Khandesh province, where the majority of the 17 seats the party will be contesting on are concentrated.