Senior Congress leader Milind Deora on 13 January dismissed speculations of him leaving the Congress party and joining Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
“These are rumours”, he said while responding to a query on reports in some sections of the media that he was quitting the Congress to join the Shinde faction.
The speculations came after Deora recently made his displeasure over the Shiv Sena (UBT) staking a claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency public, however, told reporters that he is holding discussions with his supporters. “I am listening to my supporters…Haven’t taken a decision yet,” the former Mumbai South MP said when asked if he was chalking out a plan with his supporters.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led group had staked a claim to contest the Mumbai South constituency, represented by Deora before 2014, in the upcoming general elections, which has not gone down well with the Congress leader. Last Sunday, in a video statement, Deora said that if such statements by an “alliance partner” don’t stop, his party too can announce candidates for seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is an alliance partner of the Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) in the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Deora had said since the formal talks on sharing of seats are yet to be concluded, nobody should make claims and counter-claims.
Amid rumours of him leaving the Congress, the party’s supporter and political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla in a tweet on X wrote, “Totally heartbroken but I knew this…I tried and spoke to everyone that mattered . I still hope against hope … Such a tragedy to let go of such nice people . Once again the motor mouth and his terrible statements.. Yet I hope , it changes… Imagine our people are leaving, the final nail being the clown and his statements that instead of building bridges is destroying your own organization…What a nice human being and resourceful guy who is at tbe very end… imagine the tragedy…” Though Poonawalla did not mention the name of the person leaving the party, users speculated it to be Milind Deora.
Deora, son of Congress veteran Murli Deora, had won the Mumbai South seat in 2004 and 2009. He ended up as the first runner-up in the subsequent elections in 2014 and 2019 against Shiv Sena (Undivided) leader Arvind Sawant. Deora had said his family represented the seat for 50 years and wasn’t elected on any “wave”.
Earlier in December, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut had said that their talks with the Congress on seat-sharing had to start from zero as the party has “not won any seat” in the state. He had said that UBT would contest in 23 of the 48 constituencies in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“This is Maharashtra, and Shiv Sena is the biggest party here. Congress is a national party. Uddhav Thackeray is having positive discussions with the decision-making leaders of Congress including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and KC Venugopal,” Raut had said.
Reacting on his statement, Congress leader Milind Deora said the grand old party is the leading the Opposition in Maharashtra and no alliance can proceed without consultation with the local leadership of the state.
Deora said in a post on X, “According to Sanjay Raut ji, despite the loss of its 40 MLAs, Shiv Sena UBT remains the largest party in the MVA. He suggests that Congress should begin negotiations starting with zero seats.” “He is talking about the party which is the largest opposition party in the Maharashtra Assembly and is leading the opposition. I want to tell Mr Sanjay Raut that no alliance can proceed without consultation with the local leadership of Maharashtra. This idea is also supported and supported by AICC,” Deora had said.
On 9 January, after the meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders concluded, Raut said that there are no differences over seat sharing in Maharashtra, adding that a detailed discussion also happened on the inclusion of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) in the alliance. The meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders was held at the residence of Congress leader Mukul Wasnik.
While addressing reporters in the national capital, Sanjay Raut had said, “All of the members of Maha Vikas Aghadi came out of the meeting with a smile. Maha Vikas Aghadi members–Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP–sat down to discuss seat-sharing. I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together. We have no differences about seat sharing. We discussed in detail about the Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and all have agreed to include them in the MVA and INDIA bloc.”
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