After quitting Congress and joining Shiv Sena, former Lok Sabha MP Milind Deora on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena were democratic parties while the Congress was not, PTI reported.
Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the Shinde-led party’s convention in Kolhapur, Deora said, “In my speech, I said CM Shinde is a living testimony of hard work paying. I am very happy that I joined the Shiv Sena, where a common party worker can dream of getting big posts.”
“Both the BJP and Shiv Sena are democratic parties,” Deora said who is the Sena’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Maharashtra.
Asked about differences between the Congress and Sena, he said there is a huge difference as far as democracy is concerned because the difference lies in their ideologies.
“Congress is not a democratic party. I am happy I got an opportunity to work in a party that is democratic,” Deora said while claiming he had advised the Congress against being part of the MVA government since it was an “opportunistic alliance for power”.
He further said the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress are in dire straits because the two parties were opportunistic, as per PTI reports.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed after the then-divided Shiv Sena broke its alliance with the BJP and joined hands with the Congress and NCP post-2019 Assembly polls.
On February 14, Milind Deora ended his “family’s 55-year relationship with the party” before joining the Shiv Sena. He was upset over the past few days after Shiv Sena (UBT) laid claim to the South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat, which he had represented earlier.
The former Lok Sabha MP reportedly failed to get an assurance from his own (former) party about contesting from Mumbai South in the upcoming general election — a seat represented by his family for decades. It is pertinent to note that Deora had been defeated from the seat by undivided Shiv Sena candidate Arvind Sawant.
(With PTI inputs)
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Published: 17 Feb 2024, 07:03 AM IST