Mumbai: The INDIA bloc must stake claim to form the government at the Centre, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said Tuesday evening, after Rahul Gandhi took a cautious stance when questioned about the Opposition’s plans at a press conference.
After an impressive performance of INDIA in the country and the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state, Thackeray said in his address to the media that he would attend the INDIA meeting in Delhi Wednesday to decide the next course of action.
“We should claim to form (the central) government. I’ll go to Delhi tomorrow afternoon. The exact numbers are yet to be released,” Thackeray said.
The INDIA bloc, he added, will sit and decide on the PM face when they meet tomorrow.
Hours earlier, when asked whether INDIA would stake a claim to form the government, Rahul Gandhi said that the decision would come after discussions with alliance partners in the meeting Wednesday.
Speaking to the media, Udhhav Thackeray said, “Looking at the numbers, (the) BJP government is just standing at the doorstep; but, to throw them out, we will form (the) INDIA government.”
The only reason the BJP had allies, Thackeray further said, was that the allies were “fearful” of the party.
He hinted at how the INDIA bloc might approach Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party and Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) and invite them into the INDIA fold.
These two leaders have been harassed at the hands of the BJP, so they can be open to joining the INDIA bloc, he added.
Thackeray also said that though he had hoped for two to three more seats for Shiv Sena (UBT), he is happy that the MVA has logged good numbers.
“We lost two seats in Konkan and one seat in Thane, but I don’t believe Konkan can go away from Shiv Sena. Some issue might have happened there — it needs to be checked,” he said.
As of 10 pm, MVA had a hold on 29 seats in Maharashtra, with Congress declared winners in six and leading in seven, Shiv Sena (UBT) declared winners in six and leading in three, and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) winning two and leading in five seats. Mahayuti, meanwhile, won 15 seats and was leading in three seats. An Independent candidate also registered a win.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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