MUMBAI: New Sena group leader in the LS Rahul Shewale claimed that at the party MPs' meet earlier this month, they had made it clear that they will not accept Rahul Gandhi's leadership and fight the 2024 polls as part of the UPA.
Party parliamentarian Sanjay Raut then indicated Uddhav Thackeray could be pitched as the party's national face.
Shewale said the MPs discussed the party's prospects in the 2024 LS polls during a meeting to urge Thackeray to back the NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. "We had told Uddhavji that in 2024, it would be very difficult to win without the BJP.
Issues like Ram Mandir and Uniform Civil Code would be taken up. Like Sri Lanka, Pakistan's economy could crash and that also would have an impact on the polls. We said we can't accept Rahul's leadership. There will be a Modi tsunami and the UPA has no face to take him on.
Then Raut indicated that Uddhav ji could be the face. We told them that while we had immense respect for Uddhav ji, realistically speaking, he could not be the national face. So it was very important to back Murmu and realign with the NDA. All the Sena MPs were of the view that we must go back with the BJP keeping in mind our poll prospects. We even told them that the Sena was still not part of the UPA anyway," Shewale said.
A day after 12 of the party's 19 MPs wanted the Sena to back Murmu, Thackeray declared his support for her.
Meanwhile, hitting out at Aaditya Thackeray over his barbs against rebel MLAs and MPs asking them to resign and fight polls again, Shewale said, "We fought the Lok Sabha and state elections in 2019 in alliance with the BJP. If he has guts, he should resign as MLA and fight polls. Since he was elected as a joint candidate of the Sena-BJP, he should resign and ask the voters of Worli if they have accepted the Sena's alliance with the Congress and the NCP," Shewale told TOI.
