Senior Shiv Sena leader has said that the party will not be part of any alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Raut added that he will visit western Uttar Pradesh soon and dropped hints that the party may field 100 candidates.
To a question about the possibility of joining the ranks with the Samajwadi Party-led alliance, he said that the Shiv Sena has ideological differences with Akhilesh's party and categorically stated that the party will go solo.
"Shiv Sena will not be part of any alliance in UP. We have ideological differences with Samajwadi Party but we want a change in the state," Raut said. "We are working for a long time in UP but didn’t contest elections because it did not want to hurt the BJP."
"Shiv Sena will contest on 50-100 seats in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. I will be visiting western Uttar Pradesh," he added.
Raut's reaction came a day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar announced that his party has joined the SP-led alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming polls.
Reacting to the exit of Swami Prasad Maurya and other MLAs from the BJP, Raut said that this indicates that Uttar Pradesh is moving towards a political change.
The Uttar Pradesh polls will be held in seven phases -- on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7. The results will be declared on March 10 along with the four other poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
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