Uddhav holds talks with Pawar in Mumbai ahead of INDIA coordination panel meeting

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray called on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar here on Tuesday on the eve of the first meeting of the coordination committee of the Opposition alliance INDIA.

The meeting between Thackeray and Pawar lasted for about 90 minutes and took place at the latter's 'Silver Oak' residence in south Mumbai.

Talking to reporters, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) state unit chief Jayant Patil, who was part of the meeting along with Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, said discussions took place on the INDIA bloc's coordination panel gathering and the current political situation in Maharashtra.

The INDIA coordination committee's meeting will take place in New Delhi on Wednesday (September 13).

Patil said seat-sharing arrangements in Maharashtra, which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh, among opposition allies in the state will be concluded soon.

Thackeray, Pawar, and Congress leaders Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat, and Ashok Chavan will discuss the seat-sharing, said the former state minister.

He said the 25 seats won by the BJP or its allies in the last Lok Sabha polls will be distributed properly among the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners.

The constituents of the MVA, a Maharashtra-level arrangement between the Shiv Sena (UBT), the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and the Congress, will soon finalize the schedule for 'Vajramuth' (iron fist) rallies, said Patil.

All three parties are also members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which has more than two dozen anti-BJP political outfits.

The first meeting of the opposition front was held in Patna in June followed by the second gathering in Bengaluru in July. The third conclave of the bloc was held nearly two weeks ago in Mumbai which led to the formation of a coordination committee.