INDIA bloc should stake claim to form government: Uddhav Thackeray

He expressed doubts over the results in some constituencies in Maharashtra, saying his party was thinking of challenging the Mumbai North West result in court

Mumbai: Stating that the common person has shown their power against the arrogant and dictatorial regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by denying them the majority in the Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the opposition INDIA bloc should stake claim to form government at the centre.

Uddhav Thackeray claimed that various regional parties that are part of the NDA due to pressure and harassment from the BJP may join the INDIA alliance in the coming days. (Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times)

The 63-year-old also expressed doubts over the results in some constituencies in Maharashtra, saying his party was thinking of challenging the Mumbai North West result in court. This was after the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar lost to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar by just 48 votes in the constituency.

Addressing the media on Tuesday evening when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was poised to have a majority in the 272-member Lok Sabha, Thackeray said the ground reality was different. He claimed that various regional parties that are part of the NDA due to pressure and harassment from the BJP may join the INDIA alliance in the coming days.

“The common person of India has shown their power to the powerful, arrogant regime and also to the world how it can throw a dictatorial regime out of power by using one finger,” Thackeray said. “The INDIA alliance should stake the claim to form a government at the centre. Leaders of the INDIA alliance will meet tomorrow to decide the future course of action. I will go to Delhi tomorrow evening to attend the meeting. There will be a discussion about who will be the face of the prime minister from the INDIA alliance.”

Thackeray also expressed happiness over the performance of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which was poised to win at least 29 of the state’s 48 constituencies. “I was expecting three-four seats more, but the way MVA performed is commendable. There are still doubts about the results in some constituencies. In Mumbai North West, the formal result of our candidate Amol Kirtikar is still awaited, but there is scope for doubt. So, we will wait and are likely to challenge the result in court. The verdict in constituencies from Konkan and Thane is also inexplicable. We will see what happens there.”

Thackeray also criticised the BJP for splitting up the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party. “They also used pressure tactics during elections, but still the people of Maharashtra defeated them. When I was with them, the BJP-led alliance won 41 seats in past elections. And now, even after splitting two parties, they have come down below 20 seats.”