MVA to jointly fight M’rashtra poll: Pawar

Pune, June 30

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his party, Congress, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray will jointly contest the Maharashtra Assembly polls, due in October this year.

Seat-sharing talks to begin soon

• NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said it was responsibility of major opposition parties to protect in the Assembly poll the interests of smaller allies
• He said talks on seat-sharing had not begun, but would commence soon

Pawar said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the Assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The NCP (SP), Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which was in power in the state from November 2019 till June 2022 before the collapse of the Thackeray-led government. Pawar said the opposition will keep a collective face before the people of Maharashtra.

There is need for a change in the state and it is the moral responsibility of the opposition coalition to discharge it, Pawar said.

“As Arjuna’s target (in the epic Mahabharata) was an eye (of a fish), our eyes are all set on the elections in Maharashtra. The Congress, NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena will jointly contest the Vidhan Sabha polls,” he said.