MVA to meet on Sep 30, Oct 1 to finalise seat sharing formula: Nana Patole

The Maha Vikas Aghadi will conclude its seat sharing talks for the assembly polls by early next week, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said on Sunday.

Leaders of the MVA, which comprises the Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and the Congress, will meet on September 30 and October 1 to finalise the seat sharing formula, Patole informed reporters.

"We are going to fight the polls as MVA. There is no difference of opinion on this issue. Our talks are on," he said. Taking a swipe at the Mahayuti (ruling alliance comprising Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP), he asked if it even had a chief ministerial face to project.

Queried on the Badlapur sexual assault case, Patole said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis must be pitied for indulging in politics over the September 23 encounter of accused Akshay Shinde. "No action has been taken against the management of the school (in which two minor girls were sexually assaulted allegedly by Shinde)," Patole claimed.

He also said the Maha Vikas Aghadi is not opposing the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana as CM Shinde repeatedly claims. "We will make it better when we come to power," Patole said.