The lone Rajya Sabha seat that Maharashtra’s Opposition bloc can command has become the elephant in the room for the Maha Vikas Aghadi, having as it does, the possibility of driving a deeper wedge into their fragile ties. Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena has already dropped heavy hints that they should get the seat. But ally and veteran political leader Sharad Pawar, who earlier said he would hang up his boots and not contest Rajya Sabha elections again, has done a U-turn after the death of his nephew, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar last month.
It is Ajit Pawar’s death which upended the plans for a merger of the two NCP factions and is contributing much to the complication.
The younger Pawar had died on January 28, days before the proposed date of the merger – February 12. Following his death, and the Mahayuti’s prompt installation of his widow Sunetra Pawar in his seat, the talks of merger have been put on the backburner.
Within days, Sharad Pawar’s leaders said he is interested in contesting the Rajya Sabha election.
The trouble now is that none of the parties in MVA are speaking in favor of the 85-year-old.
The Congress has been maintaining silence. State Congress President Harsh Vardhan Sapkal said all the constituent parties of the MVA should jointly decide who will be the candidate. While no one should have any objection to Sharad Pawar’s name, the top leaders will have to discuss this issue among themselves, he said.
Sena UBT, which has the largest number of seats in the MVA, is hinting that they would need the seat — in fact two, going by their wishlist.
Sanjay Raut, who previously supported Sharad Pawar, has been tight-lipped since Aditya Thackeray said the Rajya Sabha seat should go to his party.
Thackray said in 2020, Shiv Sena gave one of its seats to the NCP, so this time it is their turn. Their candidate, Aditya Thackeray said, will be Priyanka Chaturvedi, who has “vociferously raised issues related to Maharashtra’s public interest, and should be given another chance”.
The party is also hinting that with Uddhav Thackeray’s term in the Legislative Council coming to an end, he should also enter Rajya Sabha.
Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule has now said that party leaders Jayant Patil and Shashikant Shinde will speak with local leaders of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and the Congress in Maharashtra. She would discuss the matter with Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
There are 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly, of which the BJP has 131 seats, Shiv Sena Shinde has 57, and NCP Ajit Pawar has 40 MLAs.
Thirty-seven votes are required for one Rajya Sabha seat.
With 20 MLAs of Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction, 16 of Congress and 10 of NCP Sharad Pawar, the MVA can only get one of its candidates elected.
Today, the Election Commission issued notification for the election to 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states. The last date to file nomination is March 9 and votes will be cast on March 16. The counting will be held in the evening that day.
Elections will be held for seven seats from Maharashtra, six from Tamil Nadu, five each from West Bengal and Bihar, four from Odisha, three from Assam, two each from Telangana, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh, and one from Himachal Pradesh.
In Maharashtra, elections will be held for seven seats, of which six will be won by the ruling Mahayuti. The Mahayuti will also give one seat from its quota to Ramdas Athawale, who is still a minister at the Centre. One seat will go to Ajit Pawar’s NCP, on which Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar will be elected. Sunetra Pawar also has to resign her Rajya Sabha seat, and a by-election will be held for that.