Amidst seat-sharing talks, Deora stakes claim to Mumbai South seat

Former union minister and Congress leader Milind Deora has staked claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency, saying his family has served the constituency for the past 50 years. This comes as talks on seat-sharing are underway between the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra.

Mumbai: Even as talks on seat-sharing are underway between constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in the state, former union minister and senior Congress leader Milind Deora staked claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday, saying his family had served the constituency for the past 50 years as MPs or otherwise, and they were not elected on any wave.

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Deora’s statement, issued via a two-minute video message on social media, came a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) staked claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat during a rally in Girgaon. The seat was won by Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (undivided) in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

“An ally of the MVA has been making one-sided claims. Last week their spokesperson suggested we should start from zero. If this wasn’t enough, a fresh claim over the Mumbai South seat was made at a rally in Girgaon,” said Deora, who was recently appointed joint treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) are part of the MVA and a meeting between the alliance partners is scheduled in New Delhi on January 9.

“If one party is not ready to wait until formal talks, then the Congress can also make its claim on the constituency and declare its candidate,” he said, without naming Shiv Sena (UBT).

“We have won the seat based on our work and relations that were built over a period of time,” said the two-term MP, without referring to sitting MP Arvind Sawant by name.

Deora, who was minister for information and broadcasting and shipping in the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, concluded the video saying, “I hope this message will reach all the important people from Mumbai and Delhi.”