Stung by RS setback, MVA calls MLAs to Mumbai ahead of council polls

Taking no chances after the Rajya Sabha poll setback, the ruling Mahi Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra has asked all its MLAs to gather in Mumbai ahead of the June 20 election to the state legislative council.

All the MLAs of the alliance partners Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress have been asked to be in the state capital from June 18, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told reporters in Pune on Thursday.

There are 11 candidates -- five from the Bharatiya Janata Party and two each from the three MVA constituents -- in the fray for ten vacancies in the council.

On June 10, the BJP won three out of six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra, outwitting the MVA by wooing MLAs of smaller parties and Independents and through clever vote allotment.

Talking about the Rajya Sabha setback, Pawar said the BJP's third candidate, Dhananjay Mahadik, won due to second preference votes.

"Shiv Sena candidate got 33 votes while BJP got 27 in the first round, but Mahadik surged ahead in the second round. Now for council polls, we have taken all precautions.  All MLAs have been asked to be in Mumbai on June 18, 19 and 20," the senior NCP leader said.

Congress and NCP leaders held preliminary talks with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, on Wednesday to plan the strategy for the council polls, Pawar said.

Thackeray told them that key Sena leaders were in Ayodhya along with minister Aaditya Thackeray, so another meeting would be held upon their return, he said.

The Shiv Sena has the numbers to get two candidates elected while NCP and Congress do not have enough votes for their second candidates, Pawar said.

"We are talking to smaller parties and Independents," he added.

Speaking about NCP chief and his uncle Sharad Pawar refusing the offer to become the opposition's candidate in the presidential polls, Ajit Pawar said he declined because he is comfortable being in public life with people around him.