Following the demand of the ally Shiv Sena (UBT) to avail 23 seats in Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said that the situation has "changed" now and that the Shiv Sena (UBT) should think of it.
Mr Nirupam said that he got to know from a news report that the Shiv Sena (UBT) is seeking 23 seats out of the 48 ones in Maharashtra.
"Seat sharing is a complicated subject; a decision regarding that can't be taken so easily. If all parties in the INDIA block need to fight together and defeat the BJP, then we need to stop infighting. From the newspaper, I got to know that Shiv Sena has demanded 23 seats, which is a lot," said Sanjay Nirupam while speaking to news agency ANI.
"The situation has changed now. The Shiv Sena should think of it. The truth is that during the last year, Shiv Sena has suffered a split and so many prominent leaders quit the party, same is the situation with the NCP," he added.
In 2019, the undivided Shiv Sena was part of the BJP-led NDA alliance. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is now part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), with the allies being the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Following this, in June 2022, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, along with 40 other MLAs, revolted against the party's leadership and jumped ship to the BJP, leading to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.
In 2023, the NCP also suffered a split when prominent leaders like Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal joined hands with the ruling BJP in the state.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is also a part of the newly established INDIA bloc, formed to take on the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Till now, the INDIA bloc has held four meetings. The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31-September 1 and the fourth meeting was held on December 19 in the national capital.
INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) parties are seeking to put up a united challenge against the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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