Uddhav: Alliance Partners Received Seats Won Five Times For Alliance's Well-being

Amid friction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi over the Sangli Lok Sabha seat, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray left contested seats for allies, urging voters to support his party's candidate. Despite independent Congress candidate Vishal Patil and BJP's Sanjaykaka Patil also running, Thackeray expressed confidence in INDI alliance's victory. He assured Congress leaders that Shiv Sena (UBT) would not claim their traditional seats in the district. Thackeray also criticized the BJP for betraying him and looting Maharashtra, leading to his departure from the alliance.

Amid friction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi over Sangli Lok Sabha seat, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said his party left seats which it had won five times for its partners for the sake of the coalition.

Addressing a rally in Sangli for his party candidate Chandrahar Patil, Thackeray exhorted voters not to allow division of votes in the fight against autocracy.

Sending a warning to the BJP, he said all days are not the same and exuded confidence that the INDI alliance would win 300 Lok Sabha seats.

Congress leader Vishal Patil, who is the grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister late Vasantdada Patil, is in the fray as an independent. The BJP has fielded sitting MP Sanjaykaka Patil.

''We left Ramtek seat which we won five times consecutively. We left Kolhapur seat for Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. We also left Amravati because the alliance was not just going to benefit me alone, but also our allies,'' Thackeray said.

Amravati, Ramtek and Kolhapur seats are being contested by the Congress, part of the MVA along with Thackeray's outfit and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP).

Thackeray's remarks come amid Sharad Pawar admitting earlier in the day that the candidate for Sangli Lok Sabha seat was announced without consultation between MVA constituents.

Thackeray also assured local Congress leaders that his party will not stand in between their future, an indication that Shiv Sena (UBT) will not stake claim over its traditional seats in the district.

Thackeray also said had the BJP not betrayed him, he would have stayed with them.

However, Maharashtra was being looted and he did not want to be party to it so walked out of the alliance with the BJP, Thackeray claimed.

Big ticket projects that were to come up in Maharashtra, like Vedanta Foxconn, Drugs Bulk Park and International Finance City. got shifted to Gujarat, the former chief minister alleged.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)