AIMIM pledges support for NCP; Congressman Thorat says all independents are supporting the MVA
@the_news_21
Mumbai: Both the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shepherded their MLAs into five-star hotels in Mumbai ahead of the June 20 elections to the 10 Elected by MLAs (EMLAs) constituencies in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC). A flurry of meetings, parleys and ‘secret’ deals throughout Sunday marked the countdown to the high-stakes MLC elections.
Not taking any chances following their setback in the recently held Rajya Sabha election where the MVA had lost the sixth RS seat to the BJP, hectic ‘strategy-making’ sessions were held by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena and the Congress leaders.
Eleven candidates are in the fray for the 10 MLC seats, with the three MVA parties each fielding two candidates while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fielding five candidates. The victory quota is around 26.20 votes as the strength of the 288-member Legislature has now reduced to 285, following the demise of Sena MLA Ramesh Latke and the arrest and detention of two NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh.
Independent MLAs and smaller parties again holding the key to the outcome as in the MLC polls, the day saw both MVA and BJP leaders holding parleys with Independent MLAs to solicit their support.
Former State Minister and NCP leader Eknath Khadse, who is one of the NCP candidates, met with Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) leader Hitendra Thakur to seek the support of the three BVA legislators. After his meeting with the BVA leader, Khadse remarked, “I have spoken with Hitendra Thakur and asked his legislators to vote for me. I am sure he will make the right decision.” It may be recalled that in the RS polls, Thakur’s BVA had voted in favour of the BJP.
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has announced that it intended to give its two votes to the NCP, with AIMIM MLA from Dhule, Shah Faruk Anwar meeting NCP leader Ajit Pawar to express his party’s support.
Senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat, however, expressed confidence that the MVA would win on all six seats, while claiming that all the Independent MLAs would support the MVA this time. He further stressed there were no coordination problems with his party’s other allies, the NCP and the Shiv Sena.
Earlier, top Congress leaders and their NCP counterparts were at the Trident Hotel where all NCP legislators have been housed till polling day on Monday.
A late evening meeting between the MVA coordination committee (which includes representatives from the three alliance partners) and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was also due to be held at the time of going to the press.
Speaking at the function to mark Shiv Sena’s 56th Foundation Day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said he was confident of his party’s victory in the MLC polls while emphatically remarking there were “no traitors within the Sena” and that “no vote was split during the RS polls” (when the Sena’s Sanjay Pawar had lost to the BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik).
Meanwhile, BJP Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis met with all BJP legislators at the Taj Mahal Hotel, where the saffron party MLAs have been kept. Senior BJP leader and former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar argued that several MVA legislators were unhappy with their own government and would vote for the BJP.
The Shiv Sena currently has 55 MLAs, while the NCP’s voting strength is down to 51, as both Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik are behind bars. The Congress has a strength of 44 legislators in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. While the opposition BJP has 106, the RS polls saw that it had the support of at least 17 Independent legislators and MLAs from the smaller parties.
The BJP’s ploy of propping up a fifth candidate in the form of Prasad Lad, a blue-eyed boy of the party’s Assembly Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis, has made the contest particularly interesting.
Given that the MLC polls are to be held by secret ballot and assuming there is no cross-voting, then the Sena and the NCP can get both their candidates elected with support of the Independent MLAs. However, the Congress will struggle to get their second candidate elected as they lack the numbers.
Likewise, while the BJP technically can get four of their candidates elected, the fifth candidate will have to solicit for surplus votes from Independent MLAs and smaller parties. The smaller parties are not bound by any party whip issued by major political parties in the poll fray.
