Battlefield without soldiers

There is no sign that either alliance in Maharashtra is ready with a list of candidates for the Assembly election, writes ADITI PHADNIS

- ADITI PHADNIS

Assembly elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha are by the middle of November. Exuding confidence, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress President Nana Patole said last week: "All the problems have been solved. The Congress will contest the larger number of seats (in the alliance). We will announce our candidates on Vijayadashami (October 12)." He was referring to a composite list of candidates of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which has the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, or UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar, or SCP), apart from the Congress and smaller parties as its members.

On October 9, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Ajit Pawar associate Praful Patel said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance (comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and the NCP along with some smaller parties) would "announce its first list of 235 candidates on Saturday, October 12". Vijayadashami came and went and even a day after that, there is no sign that either alliance is ready with a list of candidates for an election that could be announced any day.

The problem can be summed up in one word: Split.