 "MVA will win 180-185 seats in assembly, 40 in Lok Sabha polls: Sanjay Raut")
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition will win 180-185 seats in the Assembly and at least 40 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
The Rajya Sabha MP also took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that it is not the "season of lotus". Notably, lotus is the BJP's poll symbol.
Addressing a press conference, the Rajya Sabha MP said, "MVA will get 180-185 seats in the Assembly election and at least 40 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. MVA will also win in the upcoming elections in 2024. At least 110 seats of BJP will be reduced at the national level".
"This is not the season of lotus. I don't see any lotus in the market today. There are many other flowers today in the market and you will soon see many others," he added.
He also refuted the speculation of NCP leader Ajit Pawar joining the BJP.
"We said it earlier too that it is a totally false statement, and Ajit Pawar also cleared it today that he is in NCP. They (BJP) continuously do this with Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress. But MVA will never go with them," Raut further added.
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Earlier in the day, NCP leader and former Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar dismissed "rumours" about switching over to the BJP and emphasised that he plans to remain with the NCP.
"No truth in the rumours spread about me. I am with the NCP and will remain with the party," Ajit Pawar said addressing media persons here.
"I have not taken the signatures of any MLAs. Now, all rumours must stop," the Maharashtra NCP leader said on speculation that he had taken a meeting of MLAs who wanted to switch to the to ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP alliance.
Referring to the matter, Ajit's uncle and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had tweeted," Ajit Pawar is busy with election-related work. All this talk is only in the media."
Ajit Pawar also in a tweet issued a stout denial of the news reports, "There are some media reports saying that I have convened a meeting of the (NCP) MLAs on Tuesday. This is completely false. I wish to clarify that I have not called a meeting of my party MLAs and office bearers."
There was a buzz about Ajit Pawar joining the BJP after the NCP leader recently hailed the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while adding he had full faith in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), in a remark seen as a departure from the Opposition line on the subject.
Backing the EVMs, Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition in the Assembly said if the devices were faulty, there would not be any Opposition-ruled states. He cited the governments of West Bengal and Telangana and other states as examples to support his argument.