Congress Not Happy With Uddhav Sena Announcing Lok Sabha Candidates On Its Own; 'Get Used To It', Says BJP

All is not well in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), a coalition of the principal opposition parties in Maharashtra.

Tensions are running high after its member Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on 27 March announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls allegedly without consulting the Congress.

The party through its social media handle X announced that it will field 17 candidates from Lok Sabha seats across the state. In this post, Uddhav Sena announced the names of the candidates as well as the seats they intend to represent.

Senior Congress leaders in the state were quick to take an exception to this declaration.

“It would have been better if they (Uddhav Sena) had declared the list after consulting with us and other MVA members. In fact, this is surprising since we are yet to finalise seat sharing,” said Vijay Wadettiwar, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Seats Of Contention — Sangli And Mumbai North-West

Notably, Uddhav Sena’s decision to field candidates for the Lok Sabha seats of Sangli and Mumbai North-West has left local Congress leaders fuming.

In Sangli, a prominent constituency in Western Maharashtra, Uddhav Sena has fielded Chandrahar Patil, a former 'Maharashtra Kesari' title winner wrestler as its Lok Sabha candidate. This has aggrieved the local Congress unit which had been preparing for the candidature of Vishal Patil, grandson of Maharashtra’s former chief minister Vasantdada Patil.

Congress leader Patil along with Kadegaon-Palus legislator Vishwajit Kadam are said to have immediately left for New Delhi after Uddhav Sena’s alleged arbitrary declaration of candidature of Chandrahar Patil.

Uddhav Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut justified his party’s decision saying that Uddhav Sena was rightfully entitled to claim Sangli since it had vacated its safe seat Kolhapur for Chhatrapati Shahu who will be contesting on Congress’s ticket.

While Vishal Patil from Congress is said to have been a strong contender for the Sangli seat, the grand old party’s prominent North-Indian face in Mumbai — Sanjay Nirupam was keen to contest from the Mumbai North-West constituency.

Nirupam who had represented Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat during the 15th Lok Sabha, stood second to Shiv Sena’s winning candidate Gajanan Kirtikar in the Mumbai North-West seat during the 2019 polls.

While Kirtikar sided with Eknath Shinde, Uddhav Sena this time has fielded his son Amol Kirtikar from the seat previously represented by his father.

In fact, while other Congress leaders chose to air their displeasure against Uddhav Sena in a calibrated manner, Nirupam minced no words while lashing out against both — Uddhav Sena as well as his own party.

Nirupam referred to Uddhav Sena’s candidate Amol Kirtikar as ‘khichdi chor’ owing to allegations of the latter's involvement in the scam pertaining to distribution of food to migrant labourers in the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

In an interaction with the press, Nirupam said that he will not campaign for Uddhav Sena’s candidate. He also said that Congress by being meek in front of Uddhav Sena was offering itself ‘shraddhanjali’ (respects paid after someone’s demise) at a time when the party was still alive.

Nirupam who is known to speak his mind out had in the recent past criticised his party leaders for not doing enough to hold back former chief minister Ashok Chavan from joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had also hit out against state Congress leaders who had referred to Chavan as a ‘liability’.

Senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis did not miss this opportunity to take a jibe at the MVA.

In an interaction with the press, he said, “We have had many such experiences with Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray prior to its split when it was our ally and partner in the ruling government. Since Congress has decided to continue its partnership with Uddhav Sena, they should get used to their (Uddhav Sena's) tantrums and high-handedness.”