Maharashtra: Unhappy over seat-sharing, Congress MP Milind Deora to join Eknath Shinde?

Mumbai: Senior Congress leader and former South Mumbai MP Milind Deora is in talks with Shinde faction of Shiv Sena, raising speculation of him joining the NDA ally. Unhappiness over seat sharing deal with the Uddhav faction regarding the South Mumbai seat ahead of the Lok Sabha elections is being seen as the biggest reason behind this decision.

Interestingly, the Congress has had fruitful discussion on seat-sharing only with the Thackeray faction in Maharashtra so far. Both the parties have agreed to share 20 seats each. However, that might have ruffled a few feathers within the Congress state unit. According to sources, Deora, who has traditionally fought from South Mumbai, was miffed as his seat was being given away to the Uddhav Faction.

Shinde was speaking at a public meeting in neighbouring Navi Mumbai after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu', the longest sea bridge in the country connecting south Mumbai with Nhava-Sheva in Navi Mumbai.

The chief minister said under the leadership of PM Modi, the country was progressing at a "bullet speed".

"After the Lok Sabha elections, there will be a political earthquake in the state...We have to ensure that Modi returns to power for the third term with (the ruling alliance winning) over 400 seats, while in Maharashtra, the alliance wins more than 45 seats (out of the total 48)," he said.

The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held in April/May this year.

Shinde said Maharashtra's ruling alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), will face the elections on the development agenda.

The chief minister's comments come two days after state assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that Eknath Shinde's faction was the "real Shiv Sena political party", and dismissed all the petitions that sought disqualification of the MLAs of both the factions - one each led by Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray.

Dubbing the opposition parties as being anti-development, Shinde said the development projects stalled in the state were revived after his government came to power in June 2022.

(With inputs from PTI)