Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday pitched for contesting the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly and the Lok Sabha polls together with the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and Congress. Talking to reporters, he claimed that despite a split in the Shiv Sena, majority of the “hardcore” Shiv Sainiks who work on the ground stand behind Uddhav Thackeray. Thackeray had in November last year predicted mid-term polls in Maharashtra and asked his party workers to start the preparations.