Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray is unlikely to get a commitment from his alliance partners regarding the chief minister’s post before the Maharashtra Assembly election. After the Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) is also pushing for a single-point agenda i.e. to change the government in Maharashtra. Mr. Pawar on Friday said that nobody from his party is interested in the Maharashtra chief minister’s post and his priority remains the change of government in the state.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has insisted that the MVA should declare its chief ministerial candidate before the elections, which are expected to be held in October or November this year. The party is pushing for the CM candidate as it thinks that Uddhav Thackeray will be the obvious choice. However, the Congress has ruled out projecting CM face and said that the party having the maximum number of MLAs will get the post.
When asked about the differences between his alliance partners over the CM post, Mr. Pawar said that he will speak only for his party. “Speaking for my party, we are not projecting anyone for the chief minister’s post and we are not interested in it. Our main objective is to give an alternative to voters and change the government in the state,” hes said.
The NCP founder also ruled out himself as the chief ministerial candidate of the MVA.He further said that there was no need to raise the issue of chief ministerial face now. He said that the people want an alternative and the MVA should focus on providing a reliable alternative to people.
Insisting his alliance partners to finalise seat-sharing at the earliest, Mr. Pawar said that a meeting to discuss seat allocation among the allies was postponed due to the Badlapur incident and it will now take place on August 27. “The key leaders from the MVA will sit together. My expectation from them is to take a decision on seats as early as possible and provide a clear picture to the people of the state,” he said.
