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Senior Congress leader Milind Deora on Saturday denied reports suggesting his departure from the party and a potential move to join Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
Despite publicly expressing displeasure over Shiv Sena (UBT)’s claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress leader stated these were just rumours, according to news agency PTI.
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.
In a video statement issued last Sunday, Deora said that if such statements by an “alliance partner” don’t stop, his party too can announce candidates for seats.
Deora had said, “The South Mumbai seat is traditionally with the Congress. The Deora family has been serving the people of South Mumbai for 50 years. Regardless of we are MPs or not, we work for the people of the constituency. We have not been elected in any wave. We have won the seat due to our work and relationships. I wish to tell all workers from South Mumbai that for the alliance, for the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi), the Lok Sabha polls will not be easy. No one should make public statements and claims.”
The son of Congress veteran Murli Deora, Milind secured victories in the Mumbai South seat during the elections of 2004 and 2009. However, in subsequent elections in 2014 and 2019, he finished as the first runner-up against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant.
For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has insisted on Sawant fighting from the seat as the INDIA bloc’s candidate.
(With PTI inputs)
