The fissure within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra has deepened after Congress leader Naseem Khan said his party wanted “friendly fights” in six Lok Sabha seats. However, Congress’s allies NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT) opposed the proposition, saying it would divide the votes and benefit the BJP.
A friendly fight would entail the candidates of the alliance partners not campaigning against each other and only targeting the BJP.
NCP (Sharad Pawar) state president Jayant Patil said the allies should contest the polls together and avoid a friendly fight. “If a friendly fight happens in a few places it will happen in many places. We should avoid friendly fights. We will try and speak to other alliance partners that friendly fights should not happen,” he added.
He also denied that there was a dispute among the allies over any seat and said any disagreements would be resolved soon. Jayant Patil also said the party is still hopeful for Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar to join the alliance.
Ambedkar decided to contest the polls alone in a blow to the MVA.
Naseem Khan’s proposal for a friendly fight came after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s decision to announce its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls even in three key seats that were still under discussion.
Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad said the party’s central leadership will take the final decision. A meeting will be held on March 31 and the decision taken there will be followed by the party members, said Gaikwad.
“We want to save the Constitution of our country. We respected all, including the VBA, to fight together. However, all workers and parties have their own stands. We have informed central leadership about everything,” said Gaikwad.
She also commented on the comments made by party MP Sanjay Nirupam and said he should speak to the central leadership directly. There has been speculation that Nirupam is unhappy with the party, and it was fuelled by him retweeting a post on X which questioned whether Congress cares for its leaders or not.
There were reports that Sanjay Nirupam wanted to contest the polls for the Mumbai North West seat, but the MVA has allotted it to the Shiv Sena (UBT).
“We would just ask him to work together. Whatever he feels, he can speak directly to central leadership. Our 11 accounts are frozen and there are I-T notices. We should speak on that and focus there,” said Varsha Gaikwad.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said such fights would help the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Congress is a mature party and I don’t think it will allow friendly fights to help the BJP,” Raut said, taking a swipe at its MVA ally.