Mahayuti leaders meet today to settle seat-sharing for Satara district bank polls

Satara: Senior leaders of the BJP, the NCP and the Shiv Sena will meet on Sunday to resolve seat-sharing within the Mahayuti for the Satara district bank election. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar have told the three parties' district leaders to decide in coordination, so the meeting is being closely watched.

It remains to be seen whether the meeting settles 10 seats in categories including agro-processing, urban banks and credit societies, women's reserved seats, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and Vimukta Jati-Nomadic Tribes. With Udayanraje Bhosale's seat already decided unopposed, political circles say the BJP wants six seats and is firm on giving two to the NCP and one to the Shiv Sena.

The NCP dominated the district bank for years, but with many of its leaders having moved to the BJP and the Shiv Sena, the equations in the bank have changed. Given the influence of leaders such as MLA Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and minister Shivendraraje Bhosale, seat-sharing will not be decided by party strength alone.

One formula under discussion is to hold friendly contests in the 11 Vikas Seva Society seats and divide the remaining seats between the parties. There is still no agreement on how many seats each party will get.

Source: Pudhari