Amid posturing by the ruling coalition and its rivals ahead of Maharashtra polls, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat on Thursday cast doubt on MVA unity and said he wasn’t sure if it would remain intact post-elections.
He said Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – are yet to reach a consensus over their chief ministerial candidate and claimed that each of these parties is announcing its CM face directly or indirectly.
Talking to reporters here, the leader of the Eknath Shinde-led Sena claimed, “A lot of discussion is going on in the MVA camp over CM candidates. Some Sena (UBT) leaders have met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Congress has also staked claim to the post.” NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has now indirectly announced the name of Jayant Patil, he claimed.
Hinting at a bigger role for Maharashtra NCP (SP) president Jayant Patil after the next month's assembly elections, Pawar on Wednesday said it was everyone’s wish that Patil took the “responsibility to rebuild the state”.
“This means MVA cannot contest assembly polls in the state with a single CM face. We doubt if it will remain intact after the elections. As per my knowledge, the MVA parties will have friendly fights in nearly 50 seats,” claimed Shirsat, who represents the Aurangabad (West) assembly seat.
Notably, Sena (UBT) has been pushing for declaring the CM face before the assembly elections but has failed to secure backing from allies Congress and NCP (SP).
On its part, the Mahayuti has refrained from announcing its CM face so far.
Addressing a joint press conference with allies Shinde and NCP head Ajit Pawar, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday that the ruling parties were not bothered about the CM face ahead of the November 20 assembly polls.
Shirsat said Mahayuti partners will freeze their seat-sharing formula in 2-3 days. “We can then have the first list of Mahayuti candidates,” he said.
Asked about BJP state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s remark that the Shinde Sena should “sacrifice” more seats and give them a bigger share in the seat-sharing arrangement, Shirsat sought to downplay it.
“There is no instrument to measure sacrifice. We and the other two Mahayuti partners all have made sacrifices. There is no disagreement among us over seats. We will work together,” he added.
Elections to the 288 assembly seats in the state will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.
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