Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) chief Mahadev Jankar has left the Eknath Shinde-led alliance in the state.
'Will field candidates on 288 seats in Maharashtra': Jankar
The former cabinet minister Mahadev Jankar gave a huge jolt to the Shinde-led alliance (Mahayuti) by breaking ties on Wednesday. He also announced to field candidates on all 288 seats in the state for the upcoming elections.
As soon as the model code of conduct was implemented in the state, RSP made its intentions clear by fielding potential candidates on about three dozen seats in the first batch, due to which the difficulties of Mahayuti and Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) seem to be increasing.
Mahadev Jankar contested the Lok Sabha elections from Parbhani on his party symbol from NDA but lost to Sanjay Jadhav of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena. Jankar said that he would expand his party in Maharashtra because of not getting any seat and proper respect in Mahayuti.
Mahadev Jankar was angry for not getting seats
According to sources, Jankar was angry for not getting the seats he wanted in the seat-sharing formula. He was also not present at the Mahayuti press conference in the morning today (October 16). Mahayuti had fielded him from Parbhani in the Lok Sabha Elections, but he could not win. He is considered to be close to Sharad Pawar.
The seat allocation is one of the major reasons behind the decision-making of Mahadev Jankar.
Who is Mahadev Jankar?
Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Mahadev Jankar joined Mahayuti in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis on March 24 this year.
Jankar, who contested the Baramati Lok Sabha seat against Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule in 2014, wields influence among the Dhangar community in western Maharashtra.
When will Maharashtra vote?
Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20. Votes will be counted on November 23. Eknath Shinde became Chief Minister of Maharashtra in June 2022 following a split in Shiv Sena and has steered the coalition government through many challenges.