Milind Deora recently quit the Congress and joined the Shiv Sena (File)
Former Lok Sabha MP Milind Deora on Friday said the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena were democratic parties while the Congress was not.
Milind Deora, who recently quit the Congress and joined the Shiv Sena, was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Shinde-led party's convention in Kolhapur.
"In my speech, I said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is living testimony of hard work paying. I am very happy that I joined the Shiv Sena, where a common party worker can dream of getting big posts," he said.
Milind Deora, who is the Sena's Rajya Sabha candidate from Maharashtra, further said, "Both the BJP and Shiv Sena are democratic parties." Queried about differences in the Congress and Sena, he said, "There is a difference in ideology. As far as democracy is concerned, there is a huge difference. Shiv Sena is a democratic party. Congress is not a democratic party. I am happy I got an opportunity to work in a party which is democratic." Milind Deora claimed he had advised the Congress against being part of the MVA government since it was an "opportunistic alliance for power".
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress are in dire straits because the two parties were opportunistic, Milind Deora claimed.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was formed after the then undivided Shiv Sena broke its alliance with the BJP and joined hands with the Congress and NCP post 2019 Assembly polls.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)