Consensus in MVA over 90 to 95% seats: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: A day before the deadline for filing of nominations, NCP (SP) head Sharad Pawar on Monday said the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has reached a consensus over 90 to 95 per cent of the total 288 seats in the state.

Speaking to reporters, Pawar, in a veiled attack on the BJP, said their fight was against those who engineered splits in rival political parties and those who compromised with their ideology.

Those who are in power did not solve problems of the people, he claimed.

The Maharashtra assembly elections are scheduled on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

The last date for filing of nomination papers is October 29.

The MVA comprises the NCP (SP), Congress and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT).

The Shiv Sena split in June 2022, causing the collapse of Thackeray's MVA government, while the Sharad Pawar-founded NCP broke into two factions after his nephew Ajit Pawar joined the ruling alliance in July 2023.

"Those who are in power did not solve problems of the people. We are fighting against those who engineered splits in political parties, made unnecessary compromises with their ideology and did things they were not supposed to do," Sharad Pawar said.

In March this year, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis countered the jibes he was subjected to over his "I will be back" assembly poll campaign line in 2019 by claiming he did return to power (in June 2022 following the rebellion by Eknath Shinde) and that too "after splitting two parties".

Asked about possible challenges before the opposition in the polls due to the government's welfare schemes like the Ladki Bahin scheme, Sharad Pawar said those who are in power for so long did not design any such scheme.

The Ladki Bahin scheme was launched only after a major setback (to the ruling Mahayuti) in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the former CM claimed.

The MVA won 31 out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Under the Ladki Bahin scheme, eligible women get Rs 1,500 per month from the state government.