A second round of discussion was held, but BJP has demanded an equal seat tally, which the Sena may not concede to
Ashish Shelar (left) and Anil Desai both confirmed the developments
The Shiv Sena and the BJP talks for sharing seats for the Mumbai municipal polls has finally reached that crucial zenith where the two parties are getting down to brass tacks and discussing who gets what in the 227 seats up for elections.
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Second round of talks
The Sena and BJP leaders held a second round of talks on Wednesday afternoon at state BJP president Raosaheb Danve’s residence and asked for an exchange of a list of seats that the two parties want. What it will instead come down to though is how much the BJP manages to exact from Sena, because it has demanded 114 seats of its choice and the Sena is not ready to part with such a large chunk. Leaders of both parties confirmed the development.
Sena MP Anil Desai said that the parties would exchange the lists by Wednesday evening. “We have agreed to discuss the respective demands. The issue will also be internally debated and I suppose they will discuss it at their party level too,” he said.
City BJP president Ashish Shelar echoed Desai’s statement.
Sources said both the parties want to end deliberations by January 21, so as to avoid confusion among the cadre before the nomination process gets underway.
Roadblocks ahead
What could be potentially problematic though, is that the BJP has demanded half the seats of the total tally, which the Sena is not willing to part with. The party has been ruling the city for about 25 years with the BJP as a small partner, but since the power equation changed in the 2014 Assembly polls and BJP — with 15 MLAs — emerged as the single largest party, it wants more.
The Sena, however, disagrees because it has 89 corporators (75 of its own + plus independents) in the BMC, while the BJP has just 31 so it wants party-wise strength in the BMC to be used as the main parameter.
When asked as to what happened to the BJP’s renewed vigour for ‘transparent governance’ in the BMC, Desai said, “It seems to have evaporated.”
On Tuesday, the Sena had indicated that the BJP’s demand would prove to be an obstacle while talking terms with the BJP.
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