Pune. Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said his party is not ‘small’ while his ally and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said there is no question of merging with any other party. In fact, in a recent interview, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) President Sharad Pawar had said that in the next few years, many regional parties will be more closely associated with the Congress or may consider the option of merging with it. Raut said that Pawar should clarify whether he is talking about his party.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, earlier in the day, hit out at Uddhav Thackeray over Pawar’s comments, saying he has already become Congress-minded, while Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis said it shows that Pawar himself How difficult it is to manage your party.
Addressing an election rally in Pune district, Uddhav Thackeray said that Shinde and Fadnavis are speaking as if they have consumed ‘Bhang’.
He said, ‘Pawar Saheb has said in response to a question that some small regional parties can merge with Congress. Please tell me, is Shiv Sena a small party?
Meanwhile, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said he agreed with NCP president Sharad Pawar’s comments on a possible merger or closer association of regional parties with the grand old party in the future.
Tags: Loksabha Election 2024, Sharad pawar, Uddhav Thackeray
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 9, 2024, 02:20 IST