For Maharashtra Assembly Election, Seat-Sharing Announcement Will Be Made By CM, Sena Chief: BJP’s Chandrakant Patil

Patil's statement comes against the backdrop of intense deliberations going on between top leaders of the BJP and the Sena to arrive at a mutually-agreeable seat-sharing formula for the October 21 electoral contest.

Mumbai: The final seat-sharing deal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena for the assembly polls in Maharashtra will be announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray who are discussing its contours with BJP chief Amit Shah, senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil said on Tuesday. The state BJP president also said he would not make any comment on the seat-sharing issue in future. Patil's statement comes against the backdrop of intense deliberations going on between top leaders of the BJP and the Sena to arrive at a mutually-agreeable seat-sharing formula for the October 21 electoral contest. "The alliance talks are in the final stage. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray are finalising the talks. They are also discussing it with BJP national president Amit Shah. I have thus decided not to make any further comments over the issue," Patil told reporters at the state BJP headquarters here. Patil, however, refused to answer questions on apparent miscommunication between the BJP and the Sena that led to cancellation of the previously announced press conference of Fadnavis and Thackeray on the possible alliance on Tuesday. On Monday late afternoon, BJP leaders informed media persons about the scheduled announcement of the alliance on Tuesday. However, later in night it emerged that no such announcement is scheduled. Responding to a query on the miscommunication, Patil said, "I am not a soothsayer. All I can say is that the announcement of the alliance will be made soon". Patil also cleared the air on induction of Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha leader Narayan Rane and his two sons into the BJP, saying the decision will be finalised after Fadnavis and Thackeray seal the seat-sharing deal. "Fadnavis and Thackeray are finalising a seat-sharing formula. Once they agree on it, a decision regarding Rane's induction into the BJP will be finalised," he said. Rane, a former Shivsainik and chief minister of the firstever "yuti" (Sena-BJP) government in Maharashtra (during 1995-99) for a brief period, had left Sena in late 1990s on a sour note and joined the Congress. He later quit the Congress to float his own party. On Monday, Fadnavis said the official announcement on seat-sharing deal will be made at the "right time" while Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the "next 24 hours" are "crucial" for the alliance. Raut, on Tuesday, said the BJP needs to introspect if it cannot honour its commitment, and asserted that the seat-sharing formula with the BJP was decided before the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. Notably, Thackeray announced on two occasions--on September 9 and September 20--that the formal seat-sharing deal will be announced in a "couple of days". Meanwhile, responding to Raut's statement to a regional news channel that Sena would have been in a better position to negotiate had it sat in Opposition during 2014-19, Patil said there was no point in raising this issue now. "The Sena has been with us during the entire tenure," he said.