'No need for MVA to declare CM face': Sharad Pawar on Uddhav's plea
September 05,2024Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) does not need to announce a chief ministerial candidate before the state assembly elections.
While speaking to reporters in Kolhapur, Pawar suggested that the decision on who will become the chief minister can be made after the election results are declared, based on which party in the alliance secures the highest number of seats.
"MVA leaders should sit for talks beginning September 7 to 9," he said.
He also noted the importance of the MVA completing the seat-sharing process and commencing their poll campaign as soon as possible.
Pawar recommended that the talks among the MVA, which includes the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and Congress, should also involve the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), CPI, and CPM, as these parties have some influence in certain pockets of the state and provided support to the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections.
During the first joint meeting of office-bearers from the three parties at Shanmukhananda Hall in Matunga, Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), urged the MVA to announce its CM face in advance to prevent infighting.
He assured the alliance partners of his support for their chosen candidate.
Uddhav cautioned against the logic of deciding the CM's post based on the party that wins the most seats, citing his experience with the former ally BJP. He mentioned that in every election, they would discuss seat-sharing with the understanding that the CM would be from the party with more seats, and then work to ensure that the alliance partner did not win more seats.
Despite Uddhav's remarks, neither Congress nor NCP (SP) leaders, including former CM Prithviraj Chavan and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, commented on the subject during the meeting.