Shiv Sena, Congress & NCP to contest Lok Sabha polls together, says Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut Tuesday said that Shiv Sena Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress will contest the Lok Sabha election togetherRautrsquos comments came ahead of the upcoming INDIA alliance meeting that was scheduled tomorrow and amidst reports of divisions in the alliance came to the foreRaut said that the INDIA alliance meeting was not called in a hurry and was being planned before the declaration of the results of the assembly electionHe said This meeting was not called in a hurry Even before the declaration of election results this meeting was being planned Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to Uddhav Thackeray about the meeting two days before the election results were announced Uddhav Thackeray will reach Delhi tomorrow and take part in the meetingWe the Shiv Sena Sharad Pawarled NCP and Congress are going to contest the election together in Maharashtra BJP has strength has not increased the break Shiv Sena NCP and other parties They want to make themselves capable by breaking others But people of Maharashtra think differently than the people in other states said Sanjay RautEarlier West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that she was not aware of any such meetingWhile addressing the media on Monday the West Bengal CM said that her party was unaware that the INDIA grouping is planning to hold a sitting in New Delhi I dont know I have no information so I kept a programme in North BengalIf we had the information we wouldnt have scheduled those programmes We would have definitely gone for the meeting but we have not received any information the TMC chief saidAlso read Everyone is together Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi rebuts reports of divisions in INDIA allianceAhead of the next meeting Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had dialled his alliance partners and invited them to converge Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar faction leader Supriya Sule gave a hint after the Mumbai meeting that the next meeting will be held in the national capitalSeat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls which are just four to five months away is likely to be at the top of the agenda The next INDIA bloc meeting would also be crucial for Congress particularly as the party lost Rajasthan Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls the Hindi heartland states that send a large number of members to the ParliamentHowever the Congress could find the going tough in this meeting with key ally Samajwadi Party having struck a beligerent tone against the Congress in the assembly elections SP boss Akhilesh Yadav had accused the Congress of betraying the SP by not giving it tickets to contest in a potential alliance with the Congress in MPThe Congress now desperately needs the alliance to take off if it harbours any hope of giving Narendra Modi and the BJP competition in the 2024 electionINDIA or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is a group of 28 opposition parties including the CongressThe first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 1718 The third meeting happened in Mumbai during August 31September 1In the Mumbai meeting the opposition parties adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seatsharing arrangements would be finalized as soon as possible through a spirit of giveandtake With inputs from agencies