NEW DELHI: The party is not in favour of declaring the CM face before the Assembly elections, plans to decide on it after the results.
Congress party is said to have mapped out its discourse in the upcoming meetings with its alliance partners. According to sources, the party is clear that it will not agree to the MVA partners’ demand of declaring the face for chief minister before the Assembly elections.
A Congress leader from Maharashtra, holding a national position in the party said, “One thing Congress party is clear about the negotiations, is that there should be no face for chief minister from any party in the MVA alliance. The chief minister will only be decided after the MVA comes into power. And it will be done on the basis of the strength in the Assembly. We are expecting that Congress will win more Assembly seats than all other parties in the state, so it is going to have its own chief minister.”
Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar, is said to have developed a minor discomfort over the MVA going faceless as such a set of circumstances could catapult Congress party ahead of all other alliance partners and give it a lead role in the alliance. The grand old party was the only party that secured numbers in double digits in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
A section of leaders think that Pawar may be interested in the appointment of a face for chief minister before the Assembly elections in the face of Uddhav Thackeray. For such a situation would only put the spotlight on Thackeray as a frontman and steer away the focus from Congress. A political analyst said, “NCP and Congress have the same secular voter base. Moreover, Muslims vote for both the parties. If there is no projection of the face for chief minister from other alliance partners, owing to the momentum Congress has, there will be a perception among people that Congress is rising and therefore a greater chunk of votes could slip into Congress coffers which would consequently reduce the electoral presence of NCP and also, public will start considering it a second fiddle.”
However, the party insiders from Congress as well as NCP suggest that Pawar has a greater aim in the alliance and that is to dethrone the ruling Mahayuti. According to senior Congress leader, senior Pawar will not do anything that is going to harm the Opposition alliance and therefore such considerations (that he wants Thackeray as a CM face) should be turned down as mere speculations. A senior Congress leader said, “Even if there was such a consideration, it will not come into existence for the greater good of the alliance.
This time Congress should have a greater say because of its performance in the state. And Congress will ensure that it doesn’t give up on the mandate of people, making the grand old party a primary party in the state.”
Recently, before the meeting of MVA leaders in Delhi, Thackeray was believed to have sent feelers for considering him as the chief minister face of the MVA. Interacting with reporters, Thackeray said, “If my colleagues [in the MVA] feel that I have done excellent work, then ask them whether they want me as the chief minister. People will decide.”
“I had not dreamt of being a chief minister, nor did I want to. But I am also not the one who runs away from responsibility. I took up the responsibility and tried to deliver to the best of my abilities,” Thackeray added.