BHOPAL: BJP national vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday explained why it is necessary for party president Rajnath Singh to contest from Lucknow. "Who will contest from which constituency will be decided by the party. But there are times when fielding a leader from a particular seat can influence 10 to12 adjoining constituencies," Naqvi said. He claimed that his party will win 50 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, known as the political gateway to New Delhi.

Naqvi also clarified that there is still no alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. On Sunday, the MNS leader had said his party would contest the general elections and support Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, for the sake of the country.

"Shiv Sena is an integral part of NDA alliance. But talks are on with MNS also," Naqvi said when TOI asked about the BJP's strategy in a situation where the MNS and Shiv Sena are contesting from the same seat.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday afternoon, the senior BJP leader claimed that the NDA alliance would come to power with a clear majority and not less than 300 seats.

"It is unfortunate how Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh are making Taliban-like statements in an attempt to divert the issues of corruption and inflation. These statements and calling names like 'murderer' and Mahatma Gandhi's killer are like declarations of defeat," Naqvi said.

Launching a scathing attack on Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, Naqvi said that the AAP leader's speeches display a "frustrated mentality". He described AAP as the Congress' proxy party.

