Uddhav Sena should give 1 Mumbai seat out of respect for Sharad Pawar: NCP

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Vidya Chavan on Thursday said that former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena should give at least one Lok Sabha seat to Sharad Pawar "out of respect".

Her remarks came amid an ongoing rift between the Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra over seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to India Today TV, senior leader Vidya Chavan said, "Shiv Sena (UBT) should take back their candidate from any one seat in Mumbai. Uddhav Sena should respect Pawar Sahab and give at least one Lok Sabha seat in Mumbai. Our NCP has a strong base in Mumbai."

She also said that she could contest one of the Mumbai seats herself.

"How can they say that we don't have candidates? I can contest myself. We have Rakhi Jadhav from the North-East seat and Nilesh Bhonsle from South-Central seat. Our workers are very upset. In this state, they cannot campaign for MVA together. To keep them happy and fight together, we should get one seat from Mumbai to contest," she added.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has declared candidates on 17 seats amid a dispute with allies Congress and NCP on four Lok Sabha seats -- Sangli, Bhiwandi, Mumbai North-West and Mumbai South-Central. 

While Congress has already asked UBT Sena to rethink over certain seats, NCP (Sharad Pawar) has also asked for one seat from Mumbai.