Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the politics over seat sharing in Maharashtra has already begun. Maharashtra has 48 seats out of which it was earlier decided that the BJP will contest on 26 seats and the remaining 22 seats will be distributed equally among the rest of the alliance partners in the state which are Shiv Sena Shinde and NCP led by Ajit Pawar. But post 5 states assembly elections, BJP has gained confidence that guarantee ka doosra naam Modi, which ultimately means it is easier for the BJP to contest on more seats in the state and gain more.
In fact, the recent meeting took place in the mid of December between RSS and BJP state cadre in which it was suggested that the BJP will gain more in state assembly elections if they go or contest election by their own than the alliance partner joining hands post polls.
But as far as the Lok Sabha elections are concerned, BJP is in the mood that it will go along with the alliance partners. They will contest election together. There will be proper seat sharing but ultimately, the final word for constituency and nomination will be decided by the BJP.
Now, this formula of 26 and 22 has started changing. As per an internal survey, Ajit Pawar group can win 4 seats in Lok Sabha, which are Raigarh, Shirur, Baramati and satara. In Raigarh, the NCP has a strong name, which is Sunil Tatkare. In Shirur, Ajit Pawar is in favour to give the seat to Amol Kolhe who joined Ajit Pawar and then left the party and joined hands with Sharad Pawar once again but he is still in a state of mind to again come and join hands with Ajit Pawar when it comes to Lok Sabha elections. Here if Amol kolhe comes and contests from the Shirur seat, then it is easier for Ajit Pawar to win the seat.
Baramati seat is very prestigious for Pawar family. There was a murmering that Pawar‘s wife Sunita will contest from this particular seat. Later, Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar‘s name also popped up that he would contest from the same Baramati seat.
Then, the another important seat is Satara where Srinivas Patil has won the seat but due to his age criteria, his son Sarang Patil wishes to contest this time. But there is a possibility that Ram Raje Naik Nimbalkar will be the face from Ajit Pawar side and if that happens, then there is a large possibility that Sharad Pawar may give support for the name of Prithviraj Chavan, leading to an interesting fight.
Apart from that, Thane, Parabhani and Osmanabad are the three seats where Ajit Pawar is keeping an eye to get it. Again, Thane is very prestigious constituency from where Chief Minister Eknath shinde himself comes from. But here too, the NCP has a popular name, Aanand Paranjpe.
Currently, Eknath Shinde is struggling to remain Kalyan sit with him from where his son Shrikant Shinde has been elected. But BJP is very adamant that Kalyan seat will remain with the BJP. If that happens, then Eknath Shinde needs to fight with Ajit Pawar for Thane seat to be given for his son.