LS polls For the first time Uddhav to vote for political foe-turned-friend Congress

Mumbai, Apr 26 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray will, perhaps for the first time, vote for the Congress, his political foe-turned-friend, a reflection of the churning Maharashtra polity has undergone since 2019, a year which saw realignment of parties.
The Congress, part of the opposition bloc, on Thursday fielded its city unit president Varsha Gaikwad from the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha seat, which covers the area where Thackeray is registered as a voter.
The former CM's residence, Matoshree, is in Vandre (Bandra) East assembly constituency, which falls under the Mumbai North Central seat.
"I am going to vote for Varsha Gaikwad as she is contesting from here (Mumbai North Central)," Thackeray told reporters on Friday.
Under the seat-sharing formula worked out between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Congress will contest on two Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, including North Central, and the Shiv Sena (UBT on four.
The undivided Shiv Sena and the Congress were bitter political and ideological rivals until they came together to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance with the united Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2019 to keep the BJP out of power in Maharashtra. However, their coalition government collapsed in June 2022 following a revolt in the Shiv Sena.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and the Shiv Sena were allies and put up an impressive performance, winning 41 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra. The two saffron parties together fought the state assembly polls held later that year and won a majority in the 288-member House, but had a bitter falling out after the results.
Gaikwad, a sitting Congress MLA and former state minister, met Thackeray at Matoshree and sought his support in polls. This will be Gaikwad's maiden Lok Sabha polls.
She has represented the Dharavi assembly constituency, which falls under the Mumbai South Central Lok Sabha seat, four consecutive times.
All the 6 Mumbai seats will go to polls on May 20, along with seven other constituencies in Maharashtra, in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)