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Bharatiya Janata Party has entered into an alliance with the Shiv Sena for contesting the Maharashtra assembly elections.
"Our talks are almost over and we should make the official announcement in a day or so, largely on the existing 171:117 formula for the 288 assembly seats," an officer-bearer of the party told.
But this time, two more seats will be allocated to BJP, for which Shiv Sena has given permission.
Shiv Sena-BJP alliance had allotted 7 of the seats which they won during the 2004 assembly elections to Sharad Joshi's Shetkari Sanghatana, while BJP and Shiv Sena had to be satisfied with 3 and 4 seats respectively.
During the last election, a sitting Congress legislator had joined the Shiv Sena and contested and lost the elections on the BJP-allotted seat of Chandwad.
The BJP has called for the Chandwad seat for their candidate. BJP has also demanded for the re-possession of the seat that had been allocated to the Shetkari Sanghatana, which will raise its tally to 119.
The office-bearer said a consensus has been reached on these issues and the finishing touches are being given to wrap up the alliance.
BJP is happy that the alliance has been formed despite the major politics happening within the party.
"This will ensure commitment to each other on the part of both the parties and give a much-needed headway in the campaigning process, especially at the grassroots levels," he explained.
The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance comes even as the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) dither over their plans to contest the elections jointly.
