"INDIA bloc formed to unitedly fight Lok Sabha elections": Sanjay Raut

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 18 (ANI): Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) MP Sanjay Raut said that the INDIA bloc has been forged to fight unitedly next years general elections and Congress should hold discussions for seat sharing in states where they have "weaker presence".
"First of all INDIA bloc has been forged to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. We all will unitedly fight the elections. That is the first issue," Raut told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.
"But at the national level, the bigger parties like Akhilesh Yadav's party is a bigger party. Similarly, there are other regional parties, which have a huge presence at national level," the Rajya Sabha MP added.
He further added that Congress should hold discussions for seat sharing in states where they do not have a huge presence.
"Where (states) there is no Congress, seat sharing is welcome after discussion with each other. But if there is an agreement regarding seat-sharing at both levels, we welcome it," he added.
He was responding to queries on Samajwadi Party Chief and Uttar Pradesh ex-Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's statement on INDIA-bloc seat-sharing.
On Tuesday, while speaking to reporters about the allocation of seats in the INDIA alliance in Madhya Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav said that the Congress party will answer who will get how many seats in the alliance.
Recently, Raut said Congress will decide which (INDIA partner) they want to take along with them.
"The INDIA alliance is made for the Lok Sabha elections of 2024...Assembly elections happen at the local level in many states so seat sharing will be done as per the local seats there... In the INDIA Alliance, discussions take place on Lok Sabha elections... We are limited to that...Congress is the big party in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh. So they will decide who they want to take along with them," Raut told ANI.
The opposition parties, united under the banner of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) had adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalized as soon as possible through a spirit of give-and-take. (ANI)