Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state chief Jayant Patil on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in Karnataka is a boost for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, which will take small parties along and put up a united challenge to the ruling party in the 2024 general elections.
Speaking to reporters after attending the MVA meeting at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence 'Silver Oak' here, Patil said the MVA comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, and Congress will work out a seat-sharing formula ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra assembly elections, due in the second half of the next year.
"Like Karnataka, I am sure the MVA will win the people's trust in Maharashtra and will work with more strength. MVA leaders have decided to hold talks with other small parties and are hopeful of presenting a united opposition to the current dispensation in the country in 2024," Patil said.
"The three constituents of MVA will meet and work out a seat-sharing formula ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra assembly elections. We are starting steadily and slowly. The public rallies of MVA, titled 'Vajramooth', currently put on hold will resume after the summer heat subsides. Due to rising temperatures in the state, we have suspended the rallies. We will start holding them once the heat subsides," he said. Patil said these rallies can be arranged in June and if the rains start early, we will organise them indoors.
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MVA leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) and state Congress chief Nana Patole, attended the meeting. On Saturday, Congress in Karnataka won 136 seats pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in the only southern state it ruled and boosting its prospects for the electoral battles ahead. However, BJP bagged 65 seats. Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) managed to win 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.
The Congress maintained a lead from the morning when counting began for the assembly seats in the fiercely contested election. With the Congress' emphatic victory in the Karnataka elections on Saturday, ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the only southern state ruled by it. (With Agency Inputs)
