MUMBAI: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Chandrakant Patil said his party is firm on contesting the sixth Rajya Sabha seat in Maharashtra after a meeting with MVA ministers at the residence of opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Patil said they have conveyed to others that BJP is a national party and for them the Rajya Sabha seat is important.
“In the last few years, it has been the norm to ensure these candidates are elected unopposed to avoid cross-voting. The decision on who gets the seat is made on logical grounds. We have 30 surplus votes while the three parties put together do not even cross 30, so our claim is logical, also last time we had three Rajya Sabha candidates from Maharashtra,” he said.
Patil said the MVA representatives wanted the BJP to withdraw the third candidate and in return it would be given the fifth seat in the legislative council elections. Patil said this was unacceptable to his party.
It is BJP versus the Shiv Sena for the sixth seat.
The Shiv Sena has put up Sanjay Pawar as it’s candidate for the sixth seat while the BJP has nominated Dhananjay Mahadik. While BJP can easily ensure the win of two candidates— Union minister Piyush Goyal and Dr Anil Bonde, the Shiv Sena can ensure the victory of Sanjay Raut.
Shiv Sena cannot afford a defeat just before the civic elections. There is tremendous pressure on the Sena from the Congress to withdraw its candidate as the party fears cross-voting. There is widespread discontent among Congressmen over the nomination of Imran Pratapgarhi who is considered a rank outsider by party loyalists.
