<
div id=”pcl-full-content”>The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has hinted at taking a tough stand during seat-sharing talks with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Asserting that the Congress does not hold a single seat in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut suggested that the grand old party should begin negotiations from zero seats.
Speaking to news agency ANI on Friday, Raut said that Shiv Sena is the biggest party in Maharashtra and the Congress, with zero Lok Sabha seats, must start negotiations from there. “This is Maharashtra and Shiv Sena is the biggest party here. Congress is a national party… Uddhav Thackeray is having positive discussions with the decision-making leaders of Congress including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. We have always said that Shiv Sena has always been fighting on 23 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and during our (INDIA alliance) meeting, we decided that discussions will be done later on the seats that we have won,” Raut said, adding that Congress is an important ally of the MVA.
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In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the undivided Shiv Sena contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and won 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Of these, the Shiv Sena won 18 of the 23 seats it contested while the BJP bagged 23 of the 25 seats it fielded its candidates from. The Congress, which contested the elections in alliance with the NCP, bagged 1 seat of the 25 seats it contested from while the NCP won 4 of the 19 seats it fought. However, the lone Congress MP from the state, Suresh Dhanorkar, passed away in May this year, leaving the party without an MP in the state for the first time in independent India.
Raut’s remark came a day after Congress reportedly rejected the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s demand to contest from 23 Lok Sabha seats during a meeting of the MVA alliance partners to discuss seat-sharing. According to an India Today report, the Congress pointed out during the meeting that most of its MPs were not with the Uddhav faction after Eknath Shinde drove a vertical split in the party and joined hands with the BJP to become Chief Minister in June, 2022.
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“Shiv Sena may demand 23 seats, but what will they do with them? Shiv Sena’s leaders have left, causing a crisis. Lack of candidates is a problem for Shiv Sena,” India Today quoted Nirupam as saying. With Sena and the NCP weakened following splits engineered by Shinde and Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar, the Congress is hoping to get the lion’s share.
Congress general secretary in-sharge of communications Jairam Ramesh said earlier this week that seat-sharing discussions would take place keeping in mind the ground realities. The seat-sharing talks are ongoing and will continue. We will do what needs to be done. There are different conditions and challenges in different states. We will be having discussions on seat sharing, keeping in mind the different (political) realities there,” he said.
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The remarks came even as alliance troubles began to mount for the INDIA bloc parties with several regional heavyweights suggesting they may go it alone in their respective states. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that the Trinamool Congress is the only party capable of taking on the BJP in her state.
“INDIA alliance will be there across the country. In Bengal, the TMC will fight and defeat the BJP. Remember, in Bengal, only TMC can teach a lesson to the BJP and not any other party,” she said. Of the 42 seats in West Bengal, the TMC bagged 22 while the BJP scooped 18, while the Congress managed to win only 2 of the 40 seats it contested from.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab has also hinted at contesting the elections alone. In the 2019 elections, the AAP drew a blank as BJP swept all 7 seats in the national capital. In Punjab, the Congress bagged 8 of the 13 Lok Sabha seats, the AAP won 1 seat while the NDA of BJP and the SAD bagged 4.
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