Opposition Shiv Sena and BJP would follow the 2004 Assembly elections formula for the October 13 polls, with Sena contesting 169 and BJP 119 seats, a senior BJP leader said.
Opposition Shiv Sena and BJP would follow the 2004 Assembly elections formula for the October 13 polls, with Sena contesting 169 and BJP 119 seats, a senior BJP leader said.
"The Sena-BJP alliance has nearly finalised its seat sharing and the parties would contest the same number of seats they did the last time," state BJP president Nitin Gadkari said.
Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held on October 13. "The announcement about seat sharing would be made in a couple of days," Gadkari said. Asked if there are differences in the saffron alliance over Guhagar Assembly seat in coastal Konkan, Gadkari said "We will not make Guhagar a prestige issue."
The seat had become the bone of contention between the two parties following delimitation. Sena wants the seat for Leader of Opposition Ramdas Kadam whose traditional constituency, Khed, does not exist post-delimitation.
Gadkari said the crisis in the party at the national level won't affect the Maharashtra polls. "Media has blown the issue out of proportion but it would not have any impact on the state polls," he said. Speaking on the poll agenda, Gadkari said the party would focus more on development rather than caste and religion.
"We have prepared Maharashtra vision document 2020 and addressed major issues like power, agriculture, health, water, employment and tourism," he said.
BJP would not nominate criminals in the polls arena, Gadkari said, adding "it was tragic that winnability has become the criterion and as a result, criminal elements get elected."
Referring to 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Gadkari said the Congress-NCP government has failed to tackle the security issues and overall law and order situation in the state. On the communal riots in Miraj town of western Maharashtra, he said, "the state government failed to handle the situation efficiently."
Gadkari also said that BJP has chalked out a campaign strategy which would focus on making people realise that voting MNS is akin to voting for Congress-NCP. "We would appeal to the people that voting for MNS is like voting for Congress-NCP alliance again and if they need change, they should vote for Sena-BJP and not MNS," he said.
Of the 12 seats, the MNS contested in the Lok Sabha elections, the party dented the prospects of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance candidates in at least nine seats. The BJP-Sena combine could not win even a single seat in Mumbai, although Mumbai North and Mumbai North-East seats were considered winning seats for the saffron alliance.
The BJP had admitted that the MNS played spoilsport for the Sena-BJP alliance and blamed Congress-NCP for that. "It was a strategic plan of Congress and NCP to back MNS candidates and divide votes of the saffron alliance," Gadkari said.
The BJP leader also criticised the MNS's politics on the basis of Marathi language. "BJP does not believe in language politics and the issue of Marathi versus Bihari," he said.
Asked about ally Sena's strong pro-Marathi stance, Gadkari said "as far as Marathi pride is concerned, we also do not share a different view but we oppose politics on basis of caste and language. If we come to power, we would start a special department to encourage Marathi."
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