Congress' Milind Deora to join Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction over seat sharing issue? Here's what he said

livemint.com:

Arvind Sawant. Deora had said his family represented the seat for 50 years and wasn't elected on any "wave". Earlier in December, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut had said that their talks with the Congress on seat-sharing had to start from zero as the party has "not won any seat" in the state.

He had said that UBT would contest in 23 of the 48 constituencies in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. "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, Mallikarjun Kharge, and KC Venugopal," Raut had said. Reacting on his statement, Congress leader Milind Deora said the grand old party is the leading the Opposition in Maharashtra and no alliance can proceed without consultation with the local leadership of the state. Deora said in a post on X, "According to Sanjay Raut ji, despite the loss of its 40 MLAs, Shiv Sena UBT remains the largest party in the MVA.

He suggests that Congress should begin negotiations starting with zero seats." "He is talking about the party which is the largest opposition party in the Maharashtra Assembly and is leading the opposition. I want to tell Mr Sanjay Raut that no alliance can proceed without consultation with the local leadership of Maharashtra. This idea is also supported and supported by AICC," Deora had said.