Maharashtra: Congress' Umred MLA resigns from party, joins Shiv Sena

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 24 : Maharashtra's senior Congress leader and Umred MLA Raju Parwe on Sunday joined Shiv Sena in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and
Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
Parwe resigned from Congress earlier in the day and later, joined Shiv Sena at 'Varsha', the official residence of CM Shinde.
Parve won the Umred seat in Nagpur district on a Congress ticket in the 2019 assembly elections.
The induction of Parwe can be seen as a boost for the Shiv Sena ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
Maharashtra will vote in five phases for 48 constituencies in the general elections.
Maharashtra ranks second in contributing to the Lower House of the Parliament, following Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four. Following the split in 2022, the Shiv Sena, which had earlier formed a coalition government with the Congress and NCP, saw Eknath Shinde align with the BJP.