Shiv Sena upset with BJP over seat-sharing for Maharashtra Assembly poll: Sources

Shiv Sena is reportedly upset with the BJP as the latter has offered just 106 seats to Shiv Sena in forthcoming Assembly poll. It is to be noted that Maharashtra has a total of 288 Assembly seats and Shiv Sena is demanding over 120 seats from the BJP to seal the pre-poll alliance. Sources said that the tension between two parties over seat-sharing is set to increase in the run-up to polls because BJP is in no mood to offer more than 106 seats.

Sources said that earlier Shiv Sena was adamant on contesting 144 seats but the BJP's reluctance to leave so many seats for Sena has forced the party to scale down its demand to 120 seats. Some reports claimed that Shiv Sena has also demanded a revolving chief ministership if the NDA wins the upcoming election.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday and announced that the alliance of BJP and his party for Assembly election was "inevitable".

Sources told Zee Media that BJP wants to contest on 160 seats and wants Shiv Sena to compromise on the number of seats in order to accommodate smaller allies of the NDA. Speculations are rife that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya would take the electoral plunge in the Assembly election. It is learnt that Aditya is keen on contesting from Worli seat in Mumbai. If Aditya contests the election, he will be the first Thackeray family member to do so. Aditya, too, has been undertaking a mass contact program called Jan Ashirwad Yatra in view of the upcoming election.

Even though BJP and Shiva Sena contested the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly election separately, they came together after the results to form a government. In 2014, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 122 seats while the Shiv Sena bagged 63. The Congress and NCP won 42 and 41 seats respectively.