Sanjay Raut hints at tough seat-sharing stance in Maharashtra, asks Cong to ‘start from zero’
Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 elections in alliance with the BJP and won 18 seats. They, however, split months later.
Mumbai: In an indication that the Congress party will have a tough time bargaining for seats in the Maharashtra version of Opposition's INDIA bloc, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Friday the national party would have to start seat negotiations from "zero" as it hadn't won any constituency in the state in 2019. He said his party has told senior Congress leaders that discussions on seats Sena had won would take place later than other seats.
Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 elections in alliance with the BJP and won 18 seats. They, however, split months later.
Last year, Eknath Shinde caused a vertical split in the party, with most of the MPs and MLAs supporting his decision to enter into an alliance with the BJP. The beleagured Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT) is still in alliance with the NCP and the Congress.
Eknath Shinde is now the chief minister of Maharashtra; BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is his deputy.
“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 was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Congress did not win a seat in Maharashtra so they have to start from zero (seats) but Congress is an important ally for us in MVA," he added.
Several INDIA alliance leaders have hinted they might contest the Lok Sabha elections in their respective states alone.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said TMC is the only party that can teach BJP a lesson.
“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.
AAP leaders have already hinted at contesting the elections alone in Delhi and Punjab.
On Monday, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said discussions on seat-sharing 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," Ramesh said.
Earlier this month, in the fourth meeting of the INDIA alliance, Banerjee had proposed the name of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for the post of the prime minister of India, should the alliance wins the elections.