Maharashtra BJP stakes its claim to the Mumbai South seat

The Maharashtra unit of the BJP said here today that it would stake its claim to the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat, which is currently with its ally Shiv Sena, even as the meeting of BJP alliance partners on seat sharing is likely to take place tomorrow.
"The Mumbai South seat should be left to the BJP. If our candidate is fielded, we can win this seat by defeating Milind Deora, who is an MP from there," a party leader said.
He claimed that the BJP has more activities in the Mumbai South seat, compared to the Shiv Sena.
"If our candidate is fielded, then voters will not shift to the Congress as it has been happening with the Sena. There are a large number of voters from the Jain and Gujarati communities who may vote for us," he said.

The leader also said that BJP's new allies like Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) and the Raju Shetty headed Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana are keen to contest from Madha constituency which is a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stronghold, with its chief Sharad Pawar who was elected from there during the last general election.
However, he said that only after discussions with other BJP alliance partners like the Shiv Sena and the Republican Party of India (Athawale), would the seat sharing tangle be resolved.