Mumbai, March 3 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule and senior leader Jayant Patil met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Tuesday and discussed the contentious issue of the single Rajya Sabha seat that the opposition alliance is assured of winning in Maharashtra in the March 16 elections.
However, no final decision has been made on the issue, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said, amid claims by Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners to the seat, as the nomination deadline nears.
"NCP (NCP) leaders Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil met Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree (the family's private residence in suburban Bandra) today. No decision has been made on the Rajya Sabha seat yet. A decision will be made soon," the former state minister said in a post on X.
All MVA partners – Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (NCP) and Congress – will hold discussions together on the seat and political alignments, he added.
Aaditya Thackeray denied any deadlock in the Opposition bloc's talks for the March 16 polls, asserting that the solo winnable seat should go to his party due to its numerical strength in the assembly, whose members form the electoral college for the biennial elections to the Upper House of Parliament.
The NCP (NCP) wants to send its president, Sharad Pawar, to the Rajya Sabha after the end of his current term in April.
Similarly, the Congress, too, has staked a claim to the seat.
In April, the Rajya Sabha term will end for seven sitting members – NCP (NCP) chief Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Fauzia Khan of the NCP (NCP), Ramdas Athawale of the RPI (Athawale), BJP's Bhagwat Karad, Congress's Rajani Patil and NCP's Dhairysheel Patil.
With numbers heavily stacked in favour of the ruling Mahayuti led by the BJP, the MVA can get only one candidate elected to the Upper House of Parliament. However, all three MVA constituents have staked a claim to the sole seat. The Sena (UBT) has 20 MLAs, followed by Congress (16) and NCP-SP (10) in the 288-member assembly.
The BJP-led Mahayuti is likely to win six of the seven seats falling vacant next month due to its overwhelming majority in the assembly.
Nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls can be filed till March 5. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on March 6, while candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 9. Polling will be held on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm, and counting will begin at 5 pm the same day.
