Smarting from setback in RS polls, MVA coalition asks MLAs to gather in Mumbai ahead of MLC polls

Congress Minister Satej Patil rejects arguments of poor coordination between allies; Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut says Congress will have to fight to get its second candidate elected  

Special Correspondent

@the_news_21

Mumbai: Still smarting from their setback in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition alliance partners – the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have asked all their MLAs to gather in Mumbai ahead of the crucial June 20 Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) polls. Senior Congressman and Minister Satej Patil refuted arguments of ‘poor coordination’ between the three MVA allies. 

Speaking in Pune, Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said that all the MLAs of the three coalition partners have been instructed to come to Mumbai from June 18 ahead of the Council election. 

There are 11 candidates in the fray for 10 MLC seats from the Elected by MLAs constituencies (EMLA), with the three MVA parties each fielding two candidates while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding five candidates.

The quota of votes needed to win is around 26 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 of two NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh. It is still not clear whether the court of law will allow the two arrested NCP leaders to cast their vote in the 20 MLC polls. 

As the spectre of cross-voting looms large as voting for the MLC polls is by secret ballot and after the BJP’s Rajya Sabha poll jolt to the MVA, the latter is going all-out to keep its flock together. ‘Hotel Politics’ has begun in full swing with the BJP, too, summoning their 106 MLAs to Mumbai on June 18 and housing them in the Taj President Hotel in South Mumbai ahead of the polls. 

The BJP led by Devendra Fadnavis had rattled the MVA by pulling off a surprise victory for the hotly-contested sixth RS seat by cannily securing support of Independent MLAs. With a number of independents, who were expected to side with the MVA ultimately voting for the BJP, bitter recriminations ensued after the RS poll result with Shiv Sena naming no less than six Independent MLAs as being responsible for the defeat of the Sena’s candidate, while accusing the BJP at the Centre for ‘misusing Central agencies’ to influence the outcome of the RS poll results. 

Stating that the MVA had learnt from its shortcomings in the RS poll, Congressman Satej Patil said that the coalition would win all six seats it was contesting on while alleging there was tremendous internal resentment brewing within the Maharashtra BJP. 

The senior Congress leader who is also the Guardian Minister for Kolhapur district remarked, “There is resentment in every district among the BJP’s OBC MLAs, who are disgruntled that (OBC leader) Pankaja Munde was denied justice by not being given a nomination.” 

He further argued that it was wrong to say there was ineffectual coordination between the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the NCP during the RS poll. “There was a problem with the combined votes of the 150-odd MLAs of the three parties. But we had no control over the votes cast by independents,” he added. 

Even as Satej Patil clarified that all was well between the three MVA allies, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut remarked while the Sena and the NCP had the wherewithal to get both its candidates elected, the Congress would have to fight for its second candidate.  

Raut remarked, “We (Shiv Sena) have the capacity to win two seats. The NCP, while falling short of a few votes, can easily scrape through and get both its candidates elected. However, while one of the two Congress candidates will surely get elected, they will have to fight to secure votes for their second candidate.” He made it amply clear that the Sena did not have enough surplus votes to give the Congress’ second candidate. 

The Shiv Sena currently has 55 MLAs, while the NCP’s voting strength is down to 51 as both Deshmukh and Malik are behind bars. The Congress has just 44 legislators. 

As against this 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.  

Against the backdrop of Sanjay Raut’s recent remarks against the Independent MLA’s following the MVA’s defeat on the sixth RS seat has further alienated them, the BJP is hoping to cash-in on the support of the Independents and MLAs from smaller parties for the MLC poll as well.