Amid recent friction between allies Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) following the latter’s claim to contest 23 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general election, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on January 3 clarified that Mr. Thackeray himself had never made any such demand and that the seat-sharing between the tripartite opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition would be solely based on elective merit.
Speaking in Pune, Mr. Patole said that Mr. Uddhav Thackeray had made no statement about his party wanting to contest on 23 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
“Neither Mr. Thackeray has said anything to this effect, nor has [NCP chief] Sharad Pawar or our Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and [Congress MP] Rahul Gandhi said anything about which party in the MVA contesting how many seats. The top leaders of all three parties will sit and decide the seat-sharing process,” said Mr. Patole.
