Raut, Patole resume battle over CM post even before results

Dismissing certain exit polls that indicated that the BJP-led Mahayuti will return to power in Maharashtra, Patole said, “MVA will form the government in Maharashtra under the leadership of Congress.”

While Raut agreed with the Congress leader’s assertion that the MVA will form the government, he said the chief minister will be decided by the leaders of three parties — Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) — after the results. “If Patole has said this, then I want to ask if he has the authority from his party to make such a statement. I will not accept this and nobody else (in the alliance) will accept this. We will take decision on the CM’s post together,” Raut said.

This was not the first time the two parties have sparred over the chief minister’s post. The Shiv Sena (UBT) wanted the MVA to announce its chief ministerial candidate before the election as the party was expecting the alliance partners to endorse Uddhav Thackeray’s name for the post. However, Congress vehemently opposed the idea and insisted that the alliance partner with the highest number of MLAs will get the coveted post. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar also supported the Congress after which the Uddhav Thackeray-led party dropped its demand.

Taking a dig at the state Congress president, Raut said that if he thinks that he is going to become chief minister then this announcement should be coming from Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Congress has contested 101 seats of the state Assembly while Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) contested 96 and 87 seats respectively. Most of the exit polls have predicted Congress to emerge as the number one party in the alliance.

Maharashtra voted on Wednesday for the 288 Assembly seats and the results will be declared on Saturday. However, the Mahayuti led by the BJP has already started contacting rebels and independent candidates who may win. The MVA will have to rely heavily on Sharad Pawar to win over the MLAs from the smaller parties, independents and rebels.

Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena’s spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat expressed confidence that Mahayuti will clear the majority mark, but also added that if needed they are prepared to rope in a few independents. “It is not a secret that leaders of all parties approach independents. Some independents are already in our touch,” he said.

The possibility of tussle over the CM post in Mahayuti cannot be ruled out as all three parties are projecting their leaders. However, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule downplayed the differences among the alliance partners and said, “It is natural that BJP workers want their leader Devendra Fadnavis to become the CM. Similarly Shiv Sena wants Eknath Shinde to continue. Even the NCP people would like to see Ajit Pawar as the CM. But the decision on it will be taken by the central leaders and three top leaders in the state (Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar).”