India, Feb. 23 -- Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Sunday said the Congress has staked its claim to a Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra as part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), stressing that a united decision was needed to effectively challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In April, the Rajya Sabha terms of several MPs from Maharashtra will come to an end, including Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, NCP (SP) MP Fauzia Khan, RPI (Athawale) chief Ramdas Athawale, BJP's Bhagwat Karad, Congress MP Rajani Patil, and NCP's Dhairysheel Patil.

Sapkal said the Rajya Sabha seat issue should be resolved through discussion within the alliance, not thr...