Shiv Sena calls key assembly poll-related meet on Saturday

Amid delay in seat-sharing pact with the BJP, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has convened a key meeting on Saturday to discuss the party's preparations for the October 21 assembly polls in Maharashtra.

Prominent Sena leaders, office-bearers and ticket aspirants will attend the meeting here, a party release said on Friday.

District and taluka-level chiefs of the party along with aspirants who were interviewed for poll tickets have been invited for the meeting, it said.

Party sources said the Sena is making preparations to contest all the 288 assembly seats in case its alliance talks with the BJP collapse.

The Sena meet comes in the background of BJP leaders from the state holding discussion with the central leadership on Thursday in New Delhi to assess poll preparedness for all the seats.

Senior Maharashtra BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the party's state unit president, Chandrakant Patil, were present at the meeting, sources said.

The BJP and the Sena are locked in hard bargaining for distribution of seats among themselves and smaller partners of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The BJP is said to be offering a maximum of 120 seats to the Shiv Sena.

On the other hand, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is insisting on equal distribution of seats and sharing of the chief minister's post for 2.5 years each between the saffron allies in the event of they retaining power.

A Sena leader had earlier said the party was willing to accept 135 seats.

In 2014, both parties had contested the assembly polls separately with the BJP winning 122 seats and the Sena 63.

Fadnavis took over as the first BJP chief minister on October 31, 2014, and the Sena joined his government in December that year.