Pune: Consensus has so far eluded Maha Vikas Aghadi partners on three of the eight key Pune seats — Hadapsar, Khadakwasla and Parvati — as seat-sharing talks entered the final stage on Saturday. NCP (SCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have staked a claim to Hadapsar and Khadakwasla seats, while Congress is keen to contest the Parvati seat, which is with the Sharad Pawar-led party. NCP (SCP)'s city chief Prashant Jagtap is keen to contest the Hadapsar seat.
But Sena (UBT) functionaries said Hadapsar was a crucial assembly segment for the party, besides Khadakwasla and Kothrud, and they were keen on contesting all the three seats. Hadapsar and Khadakwasla constituencies had witnessed narrow margin wins in the 2019 assembly election. In Khadakwasla, the then united NCP had pitted Sachin Dodke, who lost it in a close fight against BJP's Bhimrao Tapkir by 2,500 votes.
Dodke, who stayed with NCP (SCP), and is looking to fight on the seat in the upcoming poll. The Hadapsar seat was won by NCP's Chetan Tupe after defeating BJP's Yogesh Tilekar in 2019. Sources said the Hadapsar and Khadakwasla constituencies were spread across urban and rural pockets, and NCP (SCP) and Sena (UBT) were keen to contest these seats that have a huge base of over 4 lakh voters each.
NCP (SCP)'s city chief Jagtap said, " MVA partners are fighting the election together, and all the parties are expecting respectable seat sharing. As NCP (SCP) has a strong base in Hadapsar, we are looking to contest the seat." Sena.