CM Eknath Shinde and DCM Devendra Fadnavis Engage in Midnight Talks, Expected to Resolve Seat-Sharing Conflict

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Maha Vikas Aghadi's seat-sharing talks are stuck with three seats and the rift continues. There is a tussle over seat sharing in the Grand Alliance as well. Though the BJP and Shiv Sena have announced some candidates for the Shinde faction, there are still a lot of seats in the fray. Meanwhile, meetings are being held at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Varsha residence. It was reported that Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were engaged in a heated argument in the middle of the night. It remains to be seen if this will resolve the seat tussle. 

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Several leaders of the Grand Alliance, including the BJP, met Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Sagar bungalow. It is said that the flow of meetings and discussions continued throughout the day. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a two-and-a-half-hour discussion at Varsha Bungalow in the middle of the night. Uday Samant and Shambhuraj Desai were also present on the occasion. 

Seat-sharing tussle continues over some constituencies

It is being said that the seat-sharing tussle is still going on in the Grand Alliance over some constituencies. The dispute over Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Palghar, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar seats is likely to be resolved soon. Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis are said to have held talks over these seats.  The Shinde faction is insistent on the Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri seat and Uday Samant is said to be confident of winning the seat with a big strength if the Shiv Sena gets the seat.

There is speculation that Uday Samant's brother may get a ticket here. On the other hand, in Palghar, Rajendra Gavit is said to be keen to contest on the BJP symbol. Both the Shiv Sena-Shinde faction and the BJP are said to be pushing for the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar seat.

Meanwhile, Minister Dada Bhuse, Minister Uday Samant, Ministers Shambhuraj Desai, Hemant Godse, Suhas Kande, and Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Lok Sabha candidate Kiran Samant visited the chief minister's residence in Thane. As the chief minister was at an undisclosed location, all ministers, MLAs, and MPs had to sit at the chief minister's residence for nearly three hours. Uday Samant, Kiran Samant and Suhas Kande spoke to Shrikant Shinde.