BJP has started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
The party is making state-wise strategy and churning is also going on on seats. At the same time, mutual differences are not being resolved in the INDIA Alliance formed to compete with it.
Now, even before the discussion on seat sharing in Maharashtra, a clash has started between the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Congress and Shiv Sena.
Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut has claimed to contest on 23 seats on which he had fielded candidates in 2019 and won 18.
Whereas Congress says that distribution of seats should be on the basis of merit. Not only this, Congress is also reminding the Uddhav group that now you are divided and Shiv Sena has two camps.
Most of the 23 seats that Uddhav Sena has claimed are in the Mumbai region. He says that he should field candidates from the same seat on which he had contested in 2019. In response to this, Congress says that now Shiv Sena has broken and is much weaker than before.
Congress is saying that the victory factor should be kept in mind while distributing seats. One such seat stuck in trouble is South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat.
Presently Arvind Sawant of Uddhav group is the MP from here. Congress wants its leader Milind Deora to contest from here because he has a good chance of winning.
A Congress leader said, ‘Deora has good chances of winning. There are a large number of Marwaris, Jains and Muslims here. The army has no support base here. Arvind Sawant had won two elections from here with BJP because the support of Jain and Marwari community has been with BJP.
Now the army is divided and the advantage it had here as BJP’s partner, it will no longer get. In such a situation, only Milind Deora should be fielded.
It is being said that the issue on this seat is so complicated that Uddhav Thackeray has also talked to Congress and expressed his inability to give this seat.
At the same time, Congress has advised Uddhav Thackeray to field Sawant from somewhere else. Apart from this, Congress is also staking claim on Mumbai North Central and Mumbai South Central seats.
There is no objection to giving Mumbai North Central seat to the Uddhav group. Presently BJP’s Poonam Mahajan is the MP from here. However, there is difference of opinion regarding Mumbai South Central seat.
Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale is the MP from here, but now he is with Eknath Shinde.
Now, taking this as its basis, Congress is telling the Uddhav group that you cannot win from here. Congress says that there is a good number of Dalits here. Therefore our chances of winning are more.
There is a danger of Uddhav group joining BJP, why are Congress leaders speaking?
Apart from these, Uddhav group is also staking claim on Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi and Mira Bhayandar seats. However, state leaders of Congress have asked the high command not to give more seats to the Uddhav faction.
Congress leaders have said that if BJP falls short in seats then the Uddhav group can go with them. In such a situation, there is no use in giving them more seats to contest.