Trouble in ‘INDIA’ alliance? Uddhav's Sena & Cong spar over seat talks
Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said Congress needs to start seat negotiations ‘from zero’, drawing sharp rebuttal from the grand old party.
A war of words erupted between opposition ‘INDIA’ bloc members Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress on Friday over seat sharing arrangement for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut's remark asking Congress to start seat negotiations ‘from zero’ drew sharp reaction from the grand old party.
“...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,” Raut was quoted as saying by ANI.
“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. 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.
Congress leader Milind Deora hit out at Raut over the latter's remark. “According to Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena is the biggest party in the MVA despite losing 40 MLAs. He is suggesting Congress to start seat negotiations from zero. He is talking about the party which is the biggest opposition party in the Maharashtra assembly and is leading the opposition,” Deora posted on X.
“I want to tell Shri Sanjay Raut that any alliance cannot proceed without consultation with local leadership. This view is endorsed by AICC too,” he added.
Hitting back at Raut, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said the Shiv Sena (UBT) cannot win a seat on its own. “They don’t even have a guarantee as to whether the remaining MPs will stay with them,” Nirupam added, pointing to more than a dozen Sena MPs defecting to the Eknath Shinde faction.
The undivided Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), winning 18 seats. However, it broke ties with the BJP later that year after the assembly elections and formed the government with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
Last year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance government comprising these three parties collapsed after Eknath Shinde caused a vertical split in Shiv Sena to form a coalition government wih the BJP.