Congress' Nirupam slams Uddhav over announcement of Mumbai-North West Lok Sabha candidate

Sanjay Nirupam

A day after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray announced his party candidate from Mumbai-North West Lok Sabha seat, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam asked if it was violation of the "coalition dharma" or an attempt to show his party in poor light.

Even as seat-sharing talks are still going on between the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Congress, Thackeray on Saturday said Amol Kirtikar would be his party's candidate from the Mumbai North-West seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Notably, Amol's father, Gajanan Kirtikar is the sitting MP from the constituency and is part of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

"Chief of the leftover Shiv Sena announced his candidate as MVA nominee from Mumbai-North West. Despite having over two dozen meetings, the seat-sharing deal of MVA hasn't been finalised yet. I am told that whatever 8 to 9 seats are pending, this constituency is one of them," Nirupam posted on X.

Nirupam contested the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from the same seat, however lost to Kirtikar.

Nirupam, the former Mumbai Congress president also questioned if the announcement was violation of the "coalition dharma" or was it deliberately done to show the Congress in poor light.

The seat-sharing of the MVA is still non-conclusive. Amid the MVA leaders like MP Sanjay raut reaffirming that seat-sharing talks are in final stages and soon will be announced, the leaders from MVA has started individually announcing its candidates. Apart from Amol Kirtikar, Sharad Pawar declared his daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule as their candidate from Maharashtra's Baramati Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile, the VBA led by Prakash Ambedkar, who is expected alliance with the MVA, has also announced that if the seat-sharing formula with MVA does not work, he is ready to field candidates for Lok Sabha seats across Maharashtra and fight single-handedly.

Meanwhile, BJP and Congress has released its first list of candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, however for both parties none candidates for Maharashtra are included in its first list.