Shiv Sena(UTB) Leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said his party will contest 23  of the  48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, but ally Congress said preliminary seat-sharing talks among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)  have not yet started.

Lok Sabha Election 2024: Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut on Friday claimed that the Shiv Sena (UBT)  will contest  22 of the  48  Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Sanjay Raut made it clear how many seats Shiv Sena  (UBT) is going to contest. He, however, did not comment on the number of seats the Congress and NCP would contest. In  2019, the undivided Shiv Sena was part of the BJP-led NDA alliance. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is now part of the MVA comprising the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

Talking to reporters, Raut said a detailed discussion was held before the opposition alliance meeting in New Delhi earlier this week in which he along with Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray held talks with other Congressmen, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Apart from Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary KC Venugopal were present in this meeting.

We will contest  23  seats because we have always been contesting on the same number. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which includes the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. All three parties are also part of India.

He said “The sharing of seats has almost been decided. Talks will take place in Delhi because there is no  one (Congress)  leader to take decisions in Maharashtra and even if there is a leader, they do not have decision-making authority.”