india

Updated: Sep 13, 2019 18:10 IST

Seat-sharing discussions between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in the last leg and the two parties will make the announcement soon, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday.

Thackeray, however, refrained from commenting on the number of seats it expected to get at the end of the negotiations for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. There has been speculation that the Sena could end up getting a smaller share of seats in the alliance.

“The seat-sharing discussion is in the final stages. It will be announced soon,” the Shiv Sena chief said at an event to induct Bhaskar Jadhav, a lawmaker in Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, into the Sena.

With Jadhav joining the Sena, the party will further strengthen its hold in the Konkan region. Jadhav, who quit the Sena in September 2004, said, “Though I was in the NCP but at heart I was a Shiv Sainik. I have rejoined the party today... I had already conveyed my decision to Sharad Pawar.”

Thackeray welcomed Jadhav in the party after 15 years and said, “Not just Guhagar, not just Ratnagiri, I am going to make him travel across Maharashtra and strengthen the party.”

Jadhav also clarified that Thackeray’s close aide Milind Narvekar had no role to play in him quitting the party.

Meanwhile, former cop Pradeep Sharma, who recently resigned from the police, is expected to join the Shiv Sena soon.