Team Uddhav Thackeray rubbishes rumours of him going back to NDA

Having won nine seats, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has emerged as the second-largest party in Maharashtra, which is in a tie with the BJP.

However, what was more significant is that the Eknath Shinde faction of the party, a part of the NDA alliance, has managed to garner only seven.

In a post on X on Thursday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took a dig at journalists who allegedly sided with the BJP and said they had predicted that the BJP would come back with a big majority once the results of the Lok Sabha elections are out.

Since that didn't happen, Charturvedi said, they are now spreading rumours of her party leaving the INDIA alliance and returning to the NDA.

Referring to a popular meme, she posted, "Moye Moye. Ye na hoye (this won't happen). You can roye roye (you can cry)."

Maharashtra is among the states where the NDA has faced a major dent as compared to 2019.

In no other state has the political landscape altered between two elections as in this key state. In 2019, the BJP and the Shiv Sena were in an alliance. Together, they won 41 out of 48 seats. The NCP won four seats and the Congress one.

The BJP-Sena alliance swept the state polls together later in 2019, but the tie-up fell through over the Chief Minister's post. Thackeray then tied up with the NCP and the Congress to form the state government.

Two-and-a-half years into his term, Thackeray was in for a massive setback after his close aide and Sena loyalist Eknath Shinde led a mutiny that would topple his government and split his party. Shinde, in fact, tied up with the BJP to form the new government and become its Chief Minister.