NAGPUR: Maharashtra state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday said that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray is in such a position that he will have to accept even if the Congress and NCP give his party just two Lok Sabha seats to contest.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Bawankule said that BJP treated Thackeray like an elder brother when it had an alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. But now, the situation is different, he said, referring to Thackeray and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The BJP leader claimed that the Congress has already laid its hands on the Ramtek constituency, which was earlier with the Shiv Sena, now being headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Thackeray broke ties with the BJP in 2019 after differences cropped up over the chief minister's post.
He then joined hands with Congress and NCP to become the CM under the banner of the MVA. But his government fell last year following a rebellion led by Shinde.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats out of which the undivided Shiv Sena won in 18 constituencies in 2019.
Uddhav Thackeray will have to say yes even if Sharad Pawar or Sonia Gandhi asks his party to contest on just two seats as he has no other options left.
About claims that a BJP worker named Saurabh Pimpalkar is connected with the death threat to NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media, Bawankule said that the party worker had only followed the accused on Facebook.
He said that neither BJP nor its worker issued any threat to Sharad Pawar on social media.