2 UBT elected candidates in contact with Shinde camp, claims Thane MP Mhaske

Mhsake won the Thane Lok Sabha constituency by 217,011 votes against Rajan Vichare, the chief whip of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in the Lok Sabha

A newly-elected Shiv Sena Eknath Shinde faction member of parliament (MP) on Saturday claimed that two elected candidates from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction had contacted them to offer their support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, a first-time MP from the Thane constituency (Twitter/@nareshmhaske)

“Some people have contacted us as they have realised their mistakes. They are going to set themselves apart from UBT,” Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, a first-time MP from the Thane constituency, said in a press conference on Saturday.

“Two of the elected candidates have realised their mistake, that this is not the Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray, and have contacted the chief minister (Eknath Shine) to offer their support to the NDA,” he said.

Mhaske won the Thane Lok Sabha constituency by 217,011 votes against his nearest rival and sitting parliamentarian Rajan Baburao Vichare of the UBT.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling Mahayuti Alliance comprising Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spearheaded by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, won 17 of the 48 seats in the state.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP), which are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), won 31 of the 48 seats.