New Delhi: In a late-night meeting at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence on Friday, the seat-sharing strategy in Maharashtra has almost been finalised among the NDA partners for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, according to our sources. As per our sources, the BJP can contest in more than 30 seats out of 48 seats in the state. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is expected to contest in 10 seats while the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP is expected to get below 10 seats.

The meeting at Amit Shah's residence was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.. Sources further informed that the Shiv Sena might leave the seat in Mumbai.

The NDA alliance has set an ambitious target of winning at least 45 seats from Maharashtra. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the INDI alliance has witnessed a lot of high profile exits in Maharashtra with Congress stalwarts Milind Deora and Ashok Chavan joining Shiv Sena and BJP respectively. 

Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said Union minister Nitin Gadkari's name would be the first in the list of BJP candidates once the ruling alliance in the state finalizes its seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters here, the BJP leader pooh-poohed Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's offer of a Lok Sabha ticket to Gadkari from the opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

"Gadkari is our prominent leader. He contests from Nagpur. When the first list of candidates (of BJP) was released, there had been no discussions among Mahayuti partners (BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP)....When the discussions take place, Gadkari's name would come up first (in the candidates' list)," Fadnavis said.

(With inputs from PTI)