All senior Opposition leaders believe Uddhav's re-election to legislative council is important: Raut

Mumbai, Mar 7 (PTI) Forced to announce its support to Sharad Pawar for the lone winnable Rajya Sabha seat owing to coalition politics, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has now virtually staked its claim for the "sure-shot" seat the MVA can win in the legislative council polls for Uddhav Thackeray.

Thackeray is a strong opposition voice in the legislature, and it is important that he is re-elected, said Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, citing the wishes of all senior leaders of opposition parties for his re-election.

Asserting that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) can win one seat in the legislative council polls, Raut called for an unopposed contest.

With 20 MLAs, the Shiv Sena (UBT) is the largest constituent in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, followed by Congress (16 MLAs) and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), which has 10 members in the assembly.

"Uddhav Thackeray is a strong voice in the legislature and council. We all wish, and all senior opposition party leaders desire, that it is important that Uddhav Thackeray go to the legislature again," Raut told reporters.

He, however, emphasised that all decisions will be taken by MVA constituents unitedly at an appropriate time when the elections to the upper house of the state legislature are announced.

MVA MLAs will not take any wrong decision, Raut added.

Elections to nine MLC seats are expected to be held in April, necessitated by the retirement of Thackeray, four legislators of the BJP and one each from Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, and NCP (SP) .

"If one looks at the quota (of votes by MLAs who elect MLCs), we can win two seats in the council if planned properly. One seat can surely be won. The government must first agree that there should be an Opposition voice in the council," he said.

In the legislative council, the opposition can only win one seat due to its depleted numerical strength if there is a contest.

When asked whether the council polls will be held unopposed, Raut said the government is arrogant and is addicted to horse-trading.

The government is sitting on huge amounts of money earned through corruption and hawala, he alleged.

The fresh push by the Sena (UBT) for its candidate ahead of the legislative council polls can potentially ruffle the feathers of the NCP (SP) and Congress.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is already upset over not being able to send its nominee to the Rajya Sabha in the upcoming elections.

Given by its numerical strength in the 288-member assembly, the MVA is in the position to win only one Rajya Sabha seat, which has been allocated to NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar.

All seven candidates are set to be elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra are being held for seven seats. With numbers heavily stacked in favour of the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti. The last day for withdrawal of nominations is March 13.

On Saturday, Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray obliquely expressed disappointment over the party not getting to field its candidate for the RS polls, despite numerical supremacy.

"Going by the number of MLAs, we had the maximum strength in the House, but the seat was given to the party (NCP-SP) with the lowest number of MLAs," he said. PTI PR NSK