Maharashtra Assembly Polls: Shiv Sena Agrees to BJP Contesting 130 Seats, Say Sources

The press conference was addressed by Sena leader Sanjay Raut and BJP leader Vinod Tawde after a meeting. "Various proposals on seat-sharing are being worked out," they said. They both asserted that their parties were keen that the alliance continues.

The Shiv Sena is reportedly agreeable to the BJP's demand that it gets to contest 130 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, 11 more than it did the last time. The Sena has made clear it will not budge from its demand of 150 plus seats and reckons their smaller partners in the state can bear the brunt.

But the BJP is reportedly not comfortable with the smaller allies being given the short shrift. The party will hold a meeting with those allies - Republican Party of India, Rashtriya Samaj Party and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghana - this evening. The BJP has suggested that they be given 18 seats. The Sena's latest formula will leave no more than seven seats for them.

The Congress and the NCP - also squabbling over seat sharing - are expected to meet this evening to try and sort out their differences. Sharad Pawar's NCP wants to contest half the seats or 144. The Congress has said that is not possible. The two allies have ruled Maharashtra for the last 15 years.

Sources say in intense negotiations the Congress had suggested the NCP contest 10 more seats than it did in 2009 - up from 114 to 124 - but the NCP has rejected that. Nominations have to be filed by September 27.

The negotiations in both camps have been bitter and tense. The Shiv Sena and BJP have seemed close to a break-up over the last 10 days of sulking and threats which also included a period of suspension of talks.

All four parties have insisted they have Plan B in place - contesting the elections, to be held on October 15, alone. If the Maharashtra alliances come undone, it will become a five-way contest between the Congress, NCP, BJP, Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Narvnirman Sena or MNS.

That has also thrown up speculation about possible new post-election alliances. An unshackled NCP, say observers, might not be averse to joining hands with the BJP. In the run-up to the national elections earlier this year, leaders of the two parties seemed to share warm vibes. However, NCP leader Praful Patel has emphatically ruled out such a possibility.

For years the Shiv Sena has been the senior partner in their alliance, while the Congress has played that role with the NCP. The results of the national elections seemed to throw those equations asunder. The BJP won the lion's share of the Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra at 23; the Shiv Sena won 18. In the rout they faced, the NCP won four seats, while the Congress could manage only 2.

The Sena rebuts the BJP's argument that the national election results qualify it for more seats. The Sena has argued that the "Modi wave" that won them the national elections will not be relevant in a state election.