Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) remains firm on contesting 23 Lok Sabha seats

Shiv Sena (UBT) demands 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra for 2024 election, MVA partners (Congress, NCP) in positive talks.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has remained firm on its demand to contest 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, with Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut on December 29 stressing that discussions with its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners (Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP) on this count were positive while dismissing suggestions that the party’s vote-bank had disintegrated following the party split last year.

The Sena’s staking claim to contest 23 Lok Sabha seats - four in Mumbai city and two in Thane among them - has already triggered friction with Maharashtra Congress leaders, with former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam terming the Thackeray faction’s demand as “excessive” given that the Sena (UBT)’s vote-base had been severely fragmented following Eknath Shinde’s revolt last year. The undivided Shiv Sena had won 18 of the 23 seats when it had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Hitting out at Mr. Nirupam, a miffed Mr. Raut said, “Who is Sanjay Nirupam? What is his importance in the Congress? Does he have a power of attorney to decide on seat-sharing? Who are you to decide that the party has disintegrated In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh despite their party remaining intact. Our cadre is intact.”

Continuing his attack on Mr. Nirupam, Mr. Raut said despite the Shiv Sena (UBT) allegedly disintegrating, it won the Andheri by-election (in 2022).

“It was with the Sena (UBT)’s help that the Congress could win the Kasba by-election. So, all this talk of our vote-base fragmenting is utter nonsense. We do not give such leaders any importance. The Congress’ high command is in Delhi and we will only communicate with them. We have excellent communication with [Congress national president] Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi,” Mr. Raut said.

The Sena (UBT) leader further said that at INDIA alliance meeting, it was decided that the seats that each of the three MVA parties had won in the 2019 Lok Sabha election would be taken up at a later stage in the seat-sharing discussions.

“We have had discussions with leaders in Delhi and we had fought on 23 seats, won 18. Sambhajinagar we lost by a thin margin. The seats won in 2019 are not up for discussion. They will be deliberated upon later. The Congress does not figure here because they did not win any Lok Sabha seats in 2019. But they are an important constituent of the MVA and hence, we are working together,” he said.