Rival political alliances that are preparing for the Lok Sabha polls are still struggling to reach a consensus on sharing 48 seats. The BJP is learnt to have convinced its partners Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party that it would be wiser if it contested more seats—say 34-35—to win maximum seats from the 48 at stake. It is said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was successful in swinging this during his visit on Tuesday-Wednesday. On the other side, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is working on expanding the Opposition bloc by accommodating Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, did not reach a conclusion on Wednesday.

The Shah effect