Tension In INDIA Alliance : Shiv Sena ( UBT) Takes A Dig At Congress Bats For Mamata , Stalin Or Someone Else In Leadership Role

Picture Credit : @ShivSenaUBT_/X

The Shiv Sena-UBT said the question of leadership change in the Opposition INDIA bloc has resurfaced and can’t be ignored, asserting that it has to be seen who will helm the alliance, in an apparent dig at the Congress.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party referred to voices from disgruntled Congress members and those associated with the UPA dispensation, who suggested that the INDIA bloc leadership should be given to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin.

“The decision has to be taken on Mamata, Stalin or someone else,” an editorial in the Sena-UBT mouthpiece Saamana said.

Instead of waking up when elections are announced and talking about the Opposition alliance, it is necessary to hold discussions among its partners and take decisions consciously, it opined.

Congress at helm of INDIA bloc
The Congress has been helming the INDIA bloc, a coalition of Opposition parties formed before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to counter the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

“The issue of change in the leadership of the INDIA bloc has again come to the fore. What happened to the India bloc after the Lok Sabha polls? This question is before many. But has this question come to Congress’s mind?” the editorial in Saamana asked.

In West Bengal, the Congress is fighting against the Trinamool Congress (led by Banerjee). In Kerala, the Congress is against the Left. In Maharashtra, the Congress chose to contest independently in the recent civic body polls, which benefited the BJP, it noted.