“We have had meetings in Delhi with Mallikarjun Kharge, Uddhav ji also met Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and we have told the Congress leadership that we would be contesting 23 seats. This is because we have always contested on 23 Lok Sabha seats in the state.” said UBT’s MP and leader Sanjay Raut.
Responding to claims from the Maharashtra Congress that they would be contesting on 25 seats, Raut said the Congress could contest in all the 48 seats if it wanted. Raut, in fact, claimed in no uncertain words, that the deal with the Congress over seat sharing was almost finalised and that the Congress leadership in Maharashtra was not just ill equipped but also not privy to handle these discussions. “There is not one (Cong) leader in the state who has the power to take these decisions (on seat sharing). Even if they have leaders here, they have to frequently ask the Delhi leadership (on negotiating with allies), so it is better that we (UBT Sena) go to Delhi and finish the seat sharing in two hours. The deal is almost finalised,” claimed Raut.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar almost seconded Raut’s claim and said, “Why should we react if they(UBT) wants to contest on 23 seats? The decision will be taken by our high command,” said Wadettiwar. The Maharashtra Congress’ claim on contesting 25 seats comes in the back of the state leadership’s view that the Congress should contest on more seats as both of its allies the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP as well as the UBT may support the BJP in case it falls short of the majority after the polls.
