Shiv Sena (UBT) Dares Congress to Declare Its CM Candidate

Mumbai: Upset with the alliance partners for not accepting its demand to announce Uddhav Thackeray as the chief ministerial candidate of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday challenged the Congress party to declare its leader as the CM face. Indicating that several leaders in Congress aspire to become the CM, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said if the Congress announces 10 names as CM candidates.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP are partners of the MVA, which was formed after the 2019 Assembly election results after Uddhav Thackeray broke the pre-poll alliance with the BJP.

The next Assembly election is expected to be held in October this year. The Shiv Sena (UBT) wants their leader to be declared as the CM candidate, while the Congress and NCP (SP) have been maintaining that the CM will be decided after the results.

Mr. Raut, who is also a member of Rajya Sabha, said that after the Maharashtra Assembly election, Thackeray-2 government will come to power in the state. “Thackeray-2 refers to the continuation of the MVA government. Nobody can stop the MVA,” he said.

Responding to state Congress president Nana Patole, who said that his party gives importance to statements made only by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, Mr Raut said, “Mr. Patole is right. But I declared the name of the leader who is loved by 11 crore people of Maharashtra. They want him as their CM.”

Asking the Congress to declare the name of its leader who they think should be the CM, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said, “If Congress has any name in mind, they should announce it. I do not have any problem with that. If they have 10 names, they should declare 10 names.”

However, Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala reiterated that his party is against projecting anybody as the chief ministerial candidate before the election. “Any decision on it will be taken after the Assembly election. We are fighting together as MVA and the MVA is our face. We have not discussed and decided anything about the chief ministerial candidate. We will never do something like that. After the election, we will decide who should be the CM,” Mr. Chennithala said.