Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has questioned the rationale behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance if mistakes like delays in finalising seat-sharing agreements and selecting candidates during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections are repeated.
He emphasised that the euphoria following the MVA's impressive performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections morphed into individual egos focused on securing party-wise victories during the assembly elections, ultimately leading to their defeat.
In an interview with Saamana, the mouthpiece of Sena (UBT), Thackeray lamented that his party had to concede constituencies it had previously won multiple times to its MVA partners during the Lok Sabha polls.
“The seat-sharing parleys (during assembly polls) dragged on till the very last minute. The squabbling (among MVA partners) sent the wrong message about us among the people,” he said.
During the polls, candidates were not decided in certain constituencies, the former chief minister recalled.
There are discussions taking place regarding the “EVM scam”, the bogus voters list, and the rise in the number of voters during the assembly polls. There were deceptive schemes such as Ladki Bahin, which affected the poll prospects, Thackeray told Saamana's executive editor and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has already indicated that it might go solo in the upcoming local body polls. Moreover, the recently forged alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray's MNS could hurt its pan-India Hindi ideology, given that MNS workers are aggressively pushing the Maratha agenda in the state.
Thackeray said, “Our deep roots in the Marathi soil go back several generations. The ties with Marathi manoos are strong since the time of my grandfather and Shiv Sena pramukh (Bal Thackeray). Now, I am there, Aaditya (Thackeray) is there, and even (MNS chief) Raj has come,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
