“Let’s decide the chief ministerial face first and fight the upcoming assembly elections. I will support the name that Congress and Sharad Pawar decide on” — former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s statement at an MVA rally in Mumbai has raised eyebrows.
So far, the Maha Vikas Aghadi or the INDIA bloc has never announced the name of any leader for the post of prime minister in any general election or the name of chief minister for state elections. Their usual style is to announce it later after carefully examining the situation and local equations.
During his opening remarks, Thackeray asked Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar) to decide the candidate. “In the past, whenever we decided that the party winning the maximum seats should get the CM post, it encouraged alliance partners to work against each other. Instead, let’s decide on the CM candidate first. I will support that candidate, and we should face the elections together,” he said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also slammed the Eknath Shinde-led government in the state for giving a nominal amount of Rs 1,500 per month as financial aid to women despite spending Rs 10,000 per month on 50,000 delegates who will be tasked with door-to-door publicity for the government. “They are using people’s money for their personal campaigning. We will not let this happen. I want all workers and supporters of MVA to campaign door-to-door and tell the people of Maharashtra about what our government achieved in just two-and-a-half years, especially during the Covid-19 period.”
Speaking on the row over Waqf Board land, Thackeray said: “If this government is going to hand over Waqf Board lands or any temple land to its friends, we will not tolerate it.” He also reiterated his party’s stance on the Maratha reservation issue, saying: “The Lok Sabha should pass the Bill to increase reservation quota, which is not in the hands of the state government. Therefore, the Centre should act and grant reservation.”
Apart from Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, MP Supriya Sule, state Congress chief Nana Patole, and other MVA leaders were present at the rally.
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