Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray met with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, and other INDIA bloc members in Delhi on Thursday.

Thackeray, who was accompanied by his son Aditya and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut,  discussed with his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners the growing frustration among farmers and youth with the BJP-led alliance in the state. He stressed that the state needs effective governance.

After the meeting, Kharge tweeted, “The 13 crore people of Maharashtra are yearning for change.” Gandhi MVA) would contest and win the upcoming polls together.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, who led the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in the state for two-and-a-half years before the fall of his government, noted that he had never sought the chief minister’s role but was willing to take on responsibilities.

Thackeray had to resign as the Maharashtra chief minister after Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, split the party, and led a faction of MLAs to join the BJP. Soon after, Shinde became the Maharashtra CM. In February 2023, the Election Commission of India recognised the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena.

“If my colleagues in MVA believe I’ve performed well, they should decide if I should be their chief ministerial candidate. Ultimately, the people will decide,” he told reporters.

The meeting, however, focused on seat allocation for the upcoming state assembly elections. According to sources quoted by The New Indian Express, Congress leaders pushed for a larger share of seats following the party’s recent Lok Sabha performance. The decision on the chief minister will be made after the elections, with the MVA presenting a unified leadership during the campaign rather than a single candidate.

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole confirmed that the party will not announce a chief ministerial candidate before the elections.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the MVA secured 31 of Maharashtra’s 48 seats, while the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which includes Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar), won 17 seats.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra LoP and Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that the MVA plans to hold a major rally or meeting on August 16 at Shanmukhananda Hall. “The MVA will officially come together for the elections in Maharashtra on August 16. We are working on our manifesto under the leadership of former CM Prithviraj Chavan and will organise one or two more meetings by the end of this month,” he told reporters in Mumbai.

In the last assembly elections, the NCP and Congress contested together and won 98 seats, while the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance secured 161 out of 288 seats. However, disagreements over the chief minister’s post led Shiv Sena, which had 56 seats, to form a government with Congress and NCP as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.