MVA’s lone winnable Rajya Sabha seat sees Congress, Sena UBT tussle| India News
The Maha Vikas Aghadi is witnessing a tussle between its parties for its lone winnable Rajya Sabha seat in Maharashtra. Days after the Shiv Sena said it has “first right” over the seat, the Congress has now staked claim to it citing its national party status.
In view of this, senior leaders of the MVA alliance constituents, including Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), met in Mumbai on Thursday to hold discussions on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections and the seat allocation with regards to it, PTI news agency reported.
Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray had last week seemed to stake his party’s claim to the lone winnable seat for the MVA in the Rajya Sabha. However, following this Congress’ legislature party leader Vijay Wadettiwar proposed that the seat be allotted to the Congress on grounds of it being a national party.
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The Rajya Sabha stint for NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawarparty leader Fauzia Khan, Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Ramdas Athawale of RPI (Athawale), BJP’s Bhagwat Karad, Congress’s Rajani Patil and NCP’s Dhairysheel Patil, will end. The MVA can potentially send one candidate to the House owing to its depleted strength, PTI reported.
What have Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders said?
Before Wadettiwar, Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal had last week staked his party’s claim to the seat, but stressed that a united decision was needed to effectively challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sapkal’s remarks came a day after Aaditya Thackeray’s remarks. Rajya Sabha MP and Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had also thereafter echoed similar thoughts, saying his party had the “first right” as the MVA’s “largest party” in the Assembly. “The Shiv Sena (UBT) is the single largest party in the opposition with 20 MLAs. The Congress has 16, and the NCP (SP) has 10,” Raut stated.
However, all parties have asserted that the decision would be made through dialogue. Wadettiwar on Thursday said “the MVA will contest the election unitedly”, in line with what Sapkal had said. “The candidate will be finalised only with the consent of all three parties,” Wadettiwar said.