Senior Congress leader Milind Deora refuted reports suggesting his departure from the party and a potential move to join Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, dismissing these claims as mere rumors. Despite expressing dissatisfaction over Shiv Sena (UBT)'s assertion of the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency, a seat formerly held by Deora, the Congress leader clarified that these were unsubstantiated rumors, as reported by news agency PTI.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group had asserted its claim to contest the Mumbai South constituency, a move met with discontent from Milind Deora. In a video statement released the previous Sunday, Deora warned that if such statements from an "alliance partner" persisted, the Congress could announce its candidates for the seats.
Milind Deora emphasized the historical association of the South Mumbai seat with the Congress, highlighting the Deora family's five decades of service to the constituency. He urged party workers not to make public statements and claims, cautioning that the Lok Sabha polls would be challenging for the alliance.
As the son of Congress veteran Murli Deora, Milind secured victories in the Mumbai South seat during the 2004 and 2009 elections. However, in subsequent elections in 2014 and 2019, he finished as the first runner-up against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has insisted on Sawant contesting from the seat as the INDIA bloc's candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
