BJP, Sena release 1st Maha lists

MUMBAI: After days of negotiations, the seat-sharing agreement between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena seems to be fixed, with the former retaining its big brother status in the saffron equation on the back of its win in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The Sena will contest 124 seats and get two seats of the legislative council from the BJP quota, while the BJP will retain the lion’s share of 164 seats. The seatsharing formula has not yet been announced formally, but Sena leaders unofficially released the list of 124 seats the party will be contesting on Tuesday.

Both parties also released the first list of candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly polls on October 21. The BJP’s list of 125 candidates was helmed by CM Devendra Fadnavis, who will contest from his Nagpur South West constituency and state chief Chandrakant Patil, who will make his electoral debut from Kothrud in Pune. Patil’s candidature indicated that the BJP wants to project him as the Maratha face and the clear number two leader in Maharashtra after Fadnavis.

“The party’s central leadership has given me the opportunity to contest the polls from Kothrud in Pune. I have been associated with Pune through my work for the past many years, so I am not new to the city. Kothrud is a BJP stronghold,’’ said Patil.

The Sena’s first list of 68 candidates includes party youth wing chief and son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, public health minister Eknath Shinde, besides junior ministers. The party has retained most of its sitting legislators and accommodated five turncoats in the first list.