The seat sharing rift in the Grand Alliance is now getting bigger and it is being reported that the Shiv Sena-Shinde group is in a big dilemma. The BJP, which is ready to give up the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat to the Shiv Sena, has insisted that it should get either Thane or Kalyan.
Although Shinde, who is the sitting MP of Shiv Sena, is ready to leave the Nashik seat for the NCP and the South Mumbai seat for the BJP, it is known that he has made strong efforts to save both the Thane and Kalyan seats. Even before the Lok Sabha elections were announced, the BJP had started preparations to field Union Minister Narayan Rane from the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency. According to the seat allocation in the 2019 alliance, since this seat is held by Shiv Sena, the Shinde group insisted that Kiran Samant, the brother of Industries Minister Uday Samant, should be nominated from here. So till now the candidate for this seat was not announced. However, now the BJP has shown its readiness to leave this seat for the Shinde group.
Sources informed that the only condition that Shinde has put before the group is to give up one of the constituencies to either Thane or Kalyan in return. Thane is the stronghold of Eknath Shinde and this constituency which was once held by BJP was brought under the control of Shiv Sena by Anand Dighe. If this seat is given to BJP, Shinde is afraid that it will send a wrong message to the Shiv Sainiks. While Shinde's son Shrikant is MP from Kalyan, so it is not easy to leave that place.
Meanwhile, the current Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse, who is contesting for candidacy in Nashik, is also likely to be dropped. Chhagan Bhujbal of NCP Ajit Pawar group is almost certain to be nominated there. According to sources, Ajit Pawar will remain the candidate of the group from Dharashiv too.
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