Mumbai
Rebel candidates will be asked to withdraw, CM warns aspirants; BJP to contest 150 seats, Sena gets 124
Updated : Oct 05, 2019, 06:00 AM IST
It is now official. Bharatiya Janata Party will contest 150 seats leaving 124 to the Shiv Sena and 14 to other allies including Republican Party of India (Athavale), Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Shiv Sangram and Rayat Kranti Sanghtana. Even though BJP and Shiv Sena on Monday through press statement announced the MahaYuti (grand alliance), they did not given the exact number of seats to be fought by them in the state Assembly election. BJP has also assured two seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council in the upcoming election.
However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at a joint press conference on Friday, which was the last day for filing nomination papers, formally declared their seat-sharing deal for the assembly poll slated for October 21. A visibly relaxed Fadnavis and Thackeray downplayed rebellion and protests in their respective parties and said that the MahaYuti will win the assembly election comfortably.
Both explained that there is no big or small brother in the alliance as everyone has compromised to form the alliance. BJP and Shiv Sena had earlier been locked in months of wrangling over the seat-sharing arrangement.
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"Despite differences, the BJP and the Sena share a common thread of Hindutva," said Fadnavis. On his part, Thackeray said everything is not dependent on numbers.'' Alliance has been formed in the larger of Maharashtra,'' he noted.
Fadnavis, who has been the MahaYuti's CM face, said, "The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance got huge support from people in the Lok Sabha election. The alliance worked out so we decided that the same MahaYuti should come together in the state assembly election.''
Fadnavis, who along with senior leaders have already launched talks with aspirants who could not get ticket, said there is no place for rebels in the party and a stern action will be taken against them. "In the coming days we will ask the rebel candidates to withdraw and this will be done with the rebel candidates of each party of grand alliance. If they don't comply then they will not get any position in any of our alliance parties,'' he added.
In his road map for next five years, Fadnavis said the new government will work to make Maharashtra drought free and expedite the development process.