Congress should start seat-sharing talks from zero in Maharashtra: Raut
Mumbai: Cracks are widening among the INDIA bloc parties in Maharashtra over the seat sharing for Lok Sabha elections. Shiv Sena UBT on Friday told the Congress that it will have to start seat-sharing talks from zero as the party does not have a single Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.
Suresh Dhanorkar was the sole Congress MP in Maharashtra who had won the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat in 2019 general elections. Dhanorkar passed away in May this year and since then Congress has no representation in Lok Sabha from Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut has said that his party will contest 23 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. However, former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam said that the Uddhav Thackery-led party’s strength has reduced after the majority of the party MPs and MLAs supported Eknath Shinde and therefore the seat sharing will be done based on the current strength of all parties.
Hitting back at Nirupam, Raut said, “Congress did not win any seat in Maharashtra so they have to start from zero (seats). But Congress is an important ally for us in MVA.”
The Shiv Sena UBT leader also said that all three parties in Maha Vikas Aghadi, which is now part of INDIA block, that there will be no discussion on the seats won by the alliance partners in 2019 and those seats will remain with the winners. Though undivided Shiv Sena had won 19 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 in alliance with the BJP, 13 of those MPs have now joined Maharashtra CM.
However, Raut claimed that Shiv Sena UBT is still the number one party in Maharashtra and the people of Maharashtra are behind Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who are local leaders.
“This is Maharashtra. Shiv Sena is the biggest party in the state and Congress is the national party. We have always said that Shiv Sena has been fighting 23 Lok Sabha seats including Dadra Nagar Haveli and we are firm on contesting the same seats in 2024 also. Uddhav Thackeray is having positive discussions with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and K.C. Venugopal. He is talking to leaders who can take their party's decisions,” Raut said.
Raut’s comments have not gone well with the Congress leaders. Former Union minister Milind Deora in his post on X said, “According to Sanjay Raut ji, despite the loss of its 40 MLAs, Shiv Sena UBT remains the largest party in MVA. He suggests that Congress should begin negotiations from zero. He is talking about the party which is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra assembly.”
Deora further said that no decision will be taken in Congress without consulting the party’s local leadership.
Another former MP from Mumbai Sanjay Nirupam said that Shiv Sena UBT will not be able to win any Lok Sabha seat on its own. “Shiv Sena UBT needs Congress and we need them. The majority of their MPs have rebelled against them. Now only five-six MPs are with them and there is no guarantee that they also will not join Shinde,” he said.
