Former Union Minister Sharad Pawar said Wednesday that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) does not need to announce a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. His statement comes in the backdrop of the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray demanding from the MVA alliance that the CM face be announced.
Scheduled to be held this year, the Election Commission has not yet announced the polling dates yet for the state, although dates for Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir has been announced.
Speaking to reporters in Kolhapur, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that the decision on the chief ministerial candidate can be made after the election results are in. He added that the candidate will be chosen based on which party wins the most seats within the alliance.
”There is no need to think of a chief ministerial face now. In the past, the decision on who should lead had been taken after the results came in. That decision is made based on the numbers,” Pawar said.
“Elections have not been declared so far. There is no doubt that we will get the majority. But there is no need to make any proposal at this stage,” he said.
Referring to the 1977 elections, Pawar said, “After the Emergency, the Lok Sabha election took place. Even in that election, no face was announced. Jayaprakash Narayan had appealed to everyone to come together to oppose the Emergency. After the election, Morarji Desai’s name surfaced for the prime minister job. Till the election, no one even discussed Morarji Desai’s name. And therefore there is no need to discuss the chief minister’s name now. We three parties will make the decision unitedly. We will provide a stable government.”
Pawar further urged the MVA to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements and begin campaigning as soon as possible. He proposed that MVA leaders should begin discussions between September 7 and 9, and he anticipates that the election process will conclude by the second week of November, reports PTI.
Pawar also suggested that the MVA talks should include the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), CPI, and CPM, noting their influence in certain areas of the state and their support for the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier, the senior Pawar had said that neither he nor anyone from his party was interested in the post. “The main objective is to give an alternative to voters and pull Mahayuti out of power,” Pawar had said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
“Speaking for my party, we are not projecting anyone for the chief minister’s post and we are not interested in it… there is no question of me for it,” he added.