MVA tussles over Sangli seat, Congress says won’t concede to Shiv Sena (UBT)

Mumbai : Against the backdrop of the Lok Sabha seat-sharing formula being finalised, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MHA) in Maharashtra is facing a fresh crisis of claims over the Sangli Parliamentary seat.

With the Shiv Sena (UBT) staking a claim to the Sangli seat instead of the Kolhapur constituency, the state Congress has voiced strong opposition to the plan, which could further delay the official announcement of the seat-sharing formula among the MVA constituents -- the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), and the Shiv Sena (UBT).

During a campaign trail last week, SS (UBT) President and ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had named Chandrahar Patil – a prominent wrestler and two-time ‘Maharashtra Kesri’ awardee – as its Lok Sabha candidate for Sangli.

On Monday, SS (UBT) MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that in lieu of Sangli, the SS (UBT) has given up its claim to the Kolhapur constituency from where Shrimant Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj is likely to be fielded on a Congress ticket.

Taking strong umbrage, senior Congress leader Vishwajeet P. Kadam said that this is not acceptable as Sangli is a party stronghold.

"We shall not compromise on the Sangli constituency. It's been traditionally ours and we have great prospects of winning it, so we can’t hand it to anybody else,” said Kadam, ex-minister and a two-time sitting MLA from Palus-Kadegaon.

Referring to the proposed candidate of SS (UBT), wrestler Patil, Kadam said he just joined the party a week ago and expressed doubts over his winning prospects.

Kadam also pointed out that there are around 600 villages in Sangli district and the Congress has its leaders and elected representatives in many of them.

“Can the Shiv Sena (UBT) tell us if they have control of even 10 per cent of the local bodies in Sangli? Uddhav Thackeray should not make it a prestige issue and insist on this seat… We will not concede it for anybody; they can take any other seat instead,” urged Kadam.

As the issue threatened to snowball, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat, while admitting the party’s stronghold in Sangli, diplomatically said that “the senior leaders of both the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) will sit together and hammer out an amicable solution” to the fresh challenge.

BJP's Sanjaykaka Patil is the incumbent two-time MP from Sangli, which went out of Congress’ control after it held sway there for over 52 years.

Kadam said that he and other leaders from Sangli have already conveyed their strong displeasure over the SS (UBT) eyeing the seat, and made it clear that it should not be given away.

As far as the Kolhapur seat is concerned, Shrimant Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj – the 12th direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj – is all set to be a Congress candidate from the seat, which had elected a Shiv Sena (undivided) candidate, Sanjay S. Mahadik, in 2019.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)