Mumbai/New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS): The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituent Congress said that it has finalised the 96 seats it would contest in the November 20 Assembly elections, and discussions on the remaining constituencies shall be taken up on Tuesday, an official said here on Monday.

The party will now hold talks with allies Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, said state Congress President Nana Patole.

These 96 seats are those for which the candidates have been scrutinised and are likely to be included in the MVA final lists expected to be announced mostly by Tuesday, when the nominations for the elections will start (October 22).

Speaking to media persons in New Delhi, Patole reiterated that there are no differences in the MVA over the seat-sharing issue which is proceeding smoothly and will be completed shortly.

Responding to a query, Patole said that there was no truth in the political speculation that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would quit the MVA alliance over purported issues in the seat-sharing talks.

“The BJP is deliberately spreading such misconceptions about the (state) Opposition parties. It will lose badly in the assembly elections… The BJP is playing such games due to a fear of defeat looming over it. The entire MVA is united and working together to uproot the MahaYuti,” Patole asserted.

Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut had expressed similar views and scotched all political rumours of his purported meeting with Union Minister Amit Shah, or the party led by Uddhav Thackeray could snap ties with MVA.

In Mumbai, top Congressmen including Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar, Nitin Raut and others have said that the seat distribution negotiations are in the final stages with no face-off among the allies.

Though the exact numbers are not available, there are indications that the Congress, SS (UBT) and NCP (SP) would contest the highest number of seats and a chunk of constituencies would be kept aside for MVA’s other smaller allies like the Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI(M), PWP, etc.

Patole slammed the failure of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and the MahaYuti regime in Maharashtra for failing to address serious issues concerning the people while trying to divert attention with narratives on caste and religion.