Consensus among MVA allies on 39 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar

NCP founder Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said members of Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA have arrived at a consensus on contesting 39 Lok Sabha seats in MaharashtraHe said more rounds of discussions will be held for the remaining five to six constituencies newswire PTI reportedMaharashtra sends 48 members to Lok SabhaPawar was speaking to reporters in Kolhapur after meeting Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj a member of the erstwhile royal familyThe veteran politician virtually proposed the candidature of Shahu Maharaj in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections as the MVA nomineeQueried on the status of seatsharing discussions among the Opposition parties Pawar said There is consensus on 39 seats We will hold discussions for the rest 5 to 6 seatsPawar said he had not yet spoken to other allies Shiv Sena UBT NCP Sharadchandra Pawar and Congress about Shahu Maharajs candidatureI will be glad to see him contesting the Lok Sabha elections He has been doing social work for a long time which aligns with social reformers late Shahu Maharaj Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and B R Ambedkar he addedPawar said Shahu Maharaj generally stays away from political events but he has been actively participating in social events and programmesIn the 2019 general elections the BJP and Shiv Sena undivided won 41 out of 48 seats they had contested jointly in MaharashtraThe Nationalist Congress Party undivided and the Congress collectively won only 5 seatsHowever the political landscape has changed since 2019 in view of vertical splits in the Shiv Sena and NCP whereas the BJP is consolidating its base by inducting disgruntled leaders from rival partiesMeanwhile Pawar Tuesday said the draft of the Maratha quota bill passed by the Maharashtra legislature was similar to the earlier legislation which could not stand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in the past We need to see what happens to the fresh bill in the Supreme Court Pawar told reporters in KolhapurThe state legislature has unanimously passed the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024 granting a 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education under a new categoryThe draft of the bill cleared by the state legislature today is the same as that of the one presented before the apex court We need to see what happens to the fresh bill in the Supreme Court Pawar said With inputs from PTI