Congress backs Sharad Pawar for Lok Sabha, MVA unites in Maharashtra

New Delhi: All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Maharashtra state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala has announced that the Congress party will support National Communist Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar as the unanimous candidate for the only winnable Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.Meanwhile, negotiations are underway ahead of nomination polls on March 16, with seven seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly up for grabs.The ruling Mahayutthir alliance – the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shinde Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar NCP – has around 232 MLAs and can win six federal assembly seats without contesting.The opposition MVA (Shiv Sena-UBT: 20 MLAs, Congress: 16, NCP-SP: 10; total 46-47) is eyeing the remaining seats but needs at least 37 first-preference votes in the 288-member parliament to gain access to the seat.Pawar, whose current term ends next month, has recently expressed interest in contesting again despite being hospitalized, prompting NCP (SP) leaders such as Jayant Patil and Supriya Sule to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for discussions.Chennithala’s statement defused earlier tensions as the Congress leaders, considering their 16 provinces as the second largest MVA block, asked the alliance to win the only winnable Lok Sabha seat for itself, arguing that it follows rotation norms and is crucial for the Indian bloc at the national level.State Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal suggested trade-offs such as MVA’s support for Thackeray Legislative Council’s re-election, but Pawar’s push and Chennithala’s support showed unity to avoid a contentious poll that could jeopardize the seat.