Mumbai, July 20 -- There was a sense of unity and belonging within the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but that soon morphed into ego clashes and a focus on securing individual party victories during the assembly elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said amid speculations of a thaw in the relations between Thackeray and his former ally chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. In an interview with Saamana, the mouthpiece of Sena (UBT), Thackeray lamented that his party had to concede constituencies it had previously won multiple times to its MVA partners during the Lok Sabha polls. "The seat-sharing parleys (during assembly polls) dragged on till the very last minute. The squabbling (among MVA partners) sent the wrong message about us among the people," he told Saamana's executive editor Sanjay Raut on Saturday. He suggested that the race to announce sops during the assembly polls put the MVA, comprising Sena (UBT), NCP and the Congress, at a disadvantage. "EVM scam, electoral rolls, fake voters are the factors that have come into the public domain and are being talked about and there was impact of Laadki Bahin scheme. But there were other factors at play too. We had a tussle for seats during Lok Sabha elections, but we had given up constituencies we won four-five times as 'we' had to win the Lok Sabha. The booth level workers were alert. People voted against the conspiracy of 'scrapping of constitution' in Lok Sabha. But when it comes to the smaller constituencies with cutthroat competition like assembly, the tussle and squabble between the alliance partners began. It sent out a wrong message among the voters. During Lok Sabha elections,a we did not have symbols but knew who the candidates were. Contrary to it, we had symbols but did not know which seats to fight on and who are candidates (in assembly elections)? ," he has said. "During Lok Sabha, there was a sense of belonging within the alliance but the egoism with the selfishness of victory replaced that scene in the Assembly polls," he added, when asked on lack of coordination between parties....