Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday that the victory of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls marks the beginning, not the end. He expressed confidence that the opposition alliance would win the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Thackeray, whose party is a constituent of the MVA, addressed a joint press conference of MVA members in South Mumbai, where NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan also spoke. The three parties also held a preliminary meeting for the state assembly polls scheduled later this year.

Thackeray emphasized that the people of the state showed how hollow the myth of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s invincibility is. “The Lok Sabha poll victory for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is not the end, it is the beginning,” the former chief minister said. Congress leader Chavan said that after the Lok Sabha poll results, a change of government was imminent in Maharashtra.

Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, Pawar said, “We thank PM Narendra Modi for making the political atmosphere conducive for the MVA.” In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won 13 seats, a significant increase from the solitary seat it won in the state in 2019, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged nine and the NCP (SP) eight. In the seat-sharing deal for the general elections, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had the largest share of seats among the three parties. Of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats, the Sena (UBT) contested 21 seats, followed by Congress with 17 and NCP (SP) with 10.

In comparison, the ruling Mahayuti could only secure 17 seats, with the BJP’s seat tally dropping drastically to nine from the 23 it won in 2019. The Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde won seven seats, while the NCP led by Ajit Pawar managed to secure just one seat.