The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies- the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena – on Wednesday met in Mumbai to finalise plan for holding joint rallies across the state. The latest Supreme Court observations have led to several MVA leaders saying that the Eknath Shinde government would not survive for long. The new plan for rallies is being seen as a template for campaigning for the assembly polls that these parties expect early.

Uddhav Thackeray, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, state NCP Chief Jayant Patil, state Congress chief Nana Patole and Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan were present during the meeting.

“If the Supreme Court rules (against the Shinde-BJP government), the state could go under the Presidential rule and then there could be assembly polls,” said Jayant Patil while addressing the MVA gathering .

NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the results of the recent assembly bypolls for Chinchwad and Kasba have shown that if the three parties contest together, the BJP can be defeated even in its strongholds. ” We have shown what we could do if we come together. In Kasba, the BJP lost for the first time in 28 years. We lost the Chinchwad seat lost because we a rebel candidate. So, we must fight the polls together,”said Pawar in his speech.

While Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat claimed the three parties together would get 180 seats, his party colleague Ashok Chavan stressed the the need for better coordination to ensure vote transfer between the three parties.

Thackeray said a win for the BJP would put democracy in peril and even if denied ticket, nobody should contest as a rebel.