Ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, the tussle over the chief ministerial face continues in the state’s opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). While the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded the declaration of CM faces before the elections, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has flatly refused. Now another alliance partner Congress has made a big announcement. Despite the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) refusing to announce the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming assembly elections, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat on Thursday expressed confidence that the next chief minister will be from the Congress.
“I urge everyone to work diligently as an alliance. I am 100 per cent sure that the chief minister will come from the Maha Vikas Aghadi and will be from the Congress. Let’s focus on achieving this,” Thorat said during a review meeting of the Congress party’s Konkan division to prepare for the elections in Bhayander (West), the Indian Express reported. Emphasising the importance of preparing for the upcoming municipal and zilla parishad elections, he said, “Start working on these now, as these are also important.”
All the three parties in the MVA – Shiv Sena (Uttar Pradesh), Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Congress – have already said that they will not name the chief ministerial candidate for the elections. Thorat’s announcement marks the first time that a senior MVA leader has openly said that the next chief minister will be from the Congress. There has been no reaction from the other two allies. A senior NCP (SP) leader remarked that there is nothing wrong in Thorat’s statement that the next CM will be from the MVA.
Earlier in the meeting, Congress’ Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala said, “The threats given to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi by an MP, MLA and a Union minister of the ruling party should be taken seriously. Rahul Gandhi’s reputation has grown tremendously both in India and abroad. He is the only leader actively challenging Narendra Modi and the RSS, posing a big challenge to the BJP. This is why the BJP and its allies are constantly issuing threats, but Rahul Gandhi is unconcerned.”
