Former Union minister and senior Congress leader of Maharashrea Milind Deora on Saturday reacted to the rumours of him leaving the party and said he has not taken a decision yet. “I am listening to my supporters,” he said though he dismissed the speculations of his joining hands with the Shiv Sena faction of chief minister Eknath Shinde. The speculations have been doing the rounds for quite some time as the Uddhav faction has been claiming the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat. Uddhav faction’s Arvind Sawant is the MP from the constituency. Milind Deora won the seat in 2004 and 2009. His father Murli Deora was Mumbai South MP in 1984, 1989,1991 and 1998. Milind Deora said though he is not the sitting MP but this is a traditional seat of the Congress.

The speculation became intense after a tweet from Tehseen Poonawalla, a Congress supporter, political analyst who represents the Congress in television debates. Without naming Milind Deora, Tehseen wrote, “Totally heartbroken but I Knew this…I tried and spoke to everyone that mattered. I still hope against hope …Such a tragedy to let go of such nice people. Once again the motor mouth and his terrible statements. Yet I hope, it changes.” Political watchers concluded that he was speaking about Milind Deora and referred to Sanjay Raut as ‘motormouth’.

What is the row between Milind Deora and Sanjay Raut?

The row is over the seat-sharing of the INDIA bloc for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Sanjay Raut recently said Uddhav’s Shiv Sena is the largest party in Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leaders are in talks with the national leadership of the Congress. “We are speaking with the decision-makers, the central leadership — not the state leadership. We told them that we always contested 23 seats. Congress has to start with zero in Maharashtra. Neither we have a problem, nor Congress’s central leadership has a problem. Rest it does not matter who said what,” Sanjay Raut said.

Milind Deora gave a strong reply to this and said Congress is now the largest opposition party in the Maharashtra Assembly and is leading the opposition. “According to Sanjay Raut, even after losing 40 MLAs (to the Shinde group), Uddhav Sena is the largest party in Maharashtra. I want to tell him that no alliance can proceed without the consultation of the local leadership,” Milind Deora posted on X