After retaining Congress' trust, Chavan eyes Maharashtra polls

Mumbai: A day after Congress leadership reposed faith in him to lead the party in upcoming Assembly polls, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Friday that  his endeavour would be to win maximum seats in the state.

"I met the party leadership in the last two days and requested them to put to rest uncertainty over the leadership issue in the interest of the party's (poll) prospects. We also discussed poll preparedness and strategy," he told reporters.

On Thursday, the party high command declared that Chavan will continue in his post and lead Congress in the elections, ending the suspense over the issue of change of leadership in the state since the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.

Asked about alliance partner NCP's demand of equal seat- sharing in the 288-member Assembly, Chavan said such issues are not discussed in front of the media. "We will talk about it in the co-ordination committee meeting. This will be our sixth election together (both Assembly and Lok Sabha). My efforts would be to ensure win in maximum seats," the Congress leader said.

On whether Sharad Pawar has been asked by Congress to lead the alliance's poll campaign, Chavan said, "I have no idea. My leaders have not told me so. I can't elaborate further."

Asked whether he would contest the Assembly polls, Chavan, currently an MLC, said, "I will announce my decision when time comes."

On Pawar's views that a chief minister should be an elected representative (MLA), he said, "decisions are taken as per prevailing political situation. Late Vasantdada Patil and Pawar himself served as chief ministers for some time while being a member of Legislative Council."

Chavan was sceptical whether a US Presidential style campaign done by BJP in the Lok Sabha election would be replicated in the Maharashtra polls. "Narendra Modi was branded as a product like soap or a toothpaste which clicked with the voters," he said.