Uddhav Thackeray’s announcement of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s candidates who are contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats, including some disputed ones, has upset the Congress. Senior leaders of the national party called the act a breach of alliance dharma, and asked that the list be amended before it is too late. The leaders exchanged charges and counter-charges, exposing an intense conflict in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). 

The constituencies Thackeray has claimed indicated his party`s upper hand in the deal that the Congress leaders felt was made public without considering the ongoing talks between the allies. For example, in Mumbai, the Thackeray Sena named candidates for four constituencies, one of which the Congress had demanded desperately. Of the remaining two, the Sena is expected to get one more, leaving Congress just one among six.