Shiv Sena minister bats for 2019 LS seat-sharing formula with BJP

Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena leader Tanaji Sawant on Monday said his party would contest 23 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2024 polls, the assertion coming a day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis met Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shinde had said the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, both part of the ruling coalition in the state, will contest all polls henceforth together.

Speaking to reporters in Osmanabad (Dharashiv), Sawant said, "The (undivided) Shiv Sena had contested 23 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 general elections, winning 18. In the next Lok Sabha polls, which is less than a year away, we will do the same. Shiv Sena will contest 23 seats."

Sawant's comments came a day after local BJP MLA Rana Jagjitsingh had claimed BJP will win Osmanabad Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 polls.

Osmanabad was allotted to the Shiv Sena in the 2019 general elections and was won by Omprakash Rajenimbalkar, who is now with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).

"If anyone is going to take us for granted, we will not accept it. We are a separate party and have our own identity and symbol. We will contest as per the existing seat sharing formula," Sawant asserted.

The Shiv Sena split in June last year following a rebellion led by Eknath Shine, who went on to become CM with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Earlier in the day, Shinde in a tweet said he and Fadnavis met Shah in Delhi on Sunday night.

"During the meeting, it was decided that all future elections (including the Lok Sabha, Assembly and civic bodies) will be contested jointly by the Shiv Sena and BJP. We will contest and win the elections with majority, the CM tweeted along with a photograph of his meeting with Shah.