Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the victory of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra is the beginning and not the end, and expressed confidence that the opposition alliance will win the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Thackeray, whose party is a constituent of the MVA, was addressing a joint press conference of the MVA members in south Mumbai, where NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan also spoke. The three parties also held a preliminary meeting for the state assembly polls scheduled later this year.

Thackeray said people of the state showed how hollow the myth of Bharatiya Janata Party's invincibility is. "Lok Sabha poll victory for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is not the end, it is the beginning," the former chief minister said. Congress leader Chavan said after the Lok Sabha poll results, change of government was imminent in Maharashtra.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Pawar said, "We thank PM Narendra Modi for making the political atmosphere conducive for the MVA." In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won 13 seats, a quantum jump from the solitary seat it won in the state in 2019, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged nine and the NCP (SP) eight. In the seat-sharing deal for the general elections, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had got the largest share of seats among the three parties.

Of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats, the Sena (UBT) contested 21 seats, followed by Congress at 17 and NCP (SP) at 10. In comparison, the ruling Mahayuti could bag just 17 seats, with the BJP's seat tally coming drastically down to nine from the 23 (it won in 2019). The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won seven, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP could get just one seat.