Sunil Dattatray Tatkare.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held closed-door meetings with all the Mahayuti allies in Mumbai, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Ajit Pawar faction Maharashtra State president Sunil Tatkare said there was no question of a friendly fight on any seats in the State.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, he said that the NCP-Ajit Pawar faction would get a “respectable number of seats”, and that several factors — including sitting MLAs and the winnability of the seat — would be considered while deciding the final seat distribution. He emphasised that the situation in Maharashtra had changed after the Lok Sabha election and that the people of the State would no longer fall for the “baseless narrative” which had “negatively affected them during the Lok Sabha election”.
Decoding the future strategy for the upcoming Assembly election in the State, he said the three parties would soon appoint three spokespersons to effectively communicate the “every day thoughts” of the Mahayuti alliance partners. “In the first week of October, the first regional meeting will be held with the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister, and senior leaders of the parties to decide on this,” he said. He was speaking to The Hindu from his home constituency of Raigad.
When asked if they were given any proposal of a friendly fight in Mahayuti for a few seats where there was a tie, he said there wasn’t. “No proposal has been given for friendly fight. We will fight unitedly on all 288 seats. We are determined to come back in power with a strong majority,” Mr. Tatkare said.
Discussing the seat-sharing talks, he said that the preliminary discussion about the issue had already taken place at Nagpur and also at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s residence. “We will now discuss seat-by-seat,” Mr. Tatkare said. When asked about the criteria for deciding the seat allocation and whether the NCP-Ajit Pawar faction would insist on the seats with sitting MLAs, he said that several factors would be taken into consideration. “One factor is sitting MLAs and the other factor is winnability,” he said.
On being asked whether the party had put forth any demand for a certain number of seats or for the Chief Minister’s position, he said the priority was to win the elections together, and that no such demand had been put forth. But he also emphasised that “everybody will get respectable seats”. “We have not put forth any demand. We will resolve the issue correctly. We are determined to get back in power. We will do it sensibly,” he said.
He responded to The Hindu’s query on the impact of the Lok Sabha results in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. “For the Lok Sabha, there were different issues at the national level. The narrative which was set was baseless. That definitely affected our results in the Parliament. But I am sure that Maharashtra will not consider them anymore,” Mr. Tatkare said. The NCP-Ajit Pawar faction had fought on four seats in the Lok Sabha election and had won one.
Speaking of the party’s outreach programme, particularly among women voters, he said that the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana would be a game-changer for them. “The overall performance is very outstanding. Already, 1.6 crore women have received benefits. Wherever we travel, women voters greet us with a lot of enthusiasm,” Mr. Tatkare said.
Editorial:On the Maratha demand for reservation
While he refrained from commenting on Maratha reservation, he said that the party’s focus was on development. “We strongly support the demand for Maratha reservation without touching the OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservation. Some of them (Maratha youth) have received benefit, is what I have been told. As far as the party is concerned, we are focussing on development. Maratha reservation will be resolved,” Mr. Tatkare said.
Published – September 10, 2024 10:33 pm IST