Mumbai: Chief of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Uddhav Thackeray announced on Friday that he will back the candidate chosen for Maharashtra chief minister by partners Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, Sharadchandra Pawar, according to The Hindu.
Assembly elections are scheduled to occur in the next three months in the state, where the three parties are members of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. At the national level, the parties belong to the INDIA bloc as well.
On Friday, Thackeray stated that rather than choosing a candidate after waiting to see whether the party gains more seats in the election, the chief ministerial candidate should be chosen beforehand.
The former chief minister spoke during a joint gathering of the Opposition alliance's party workers. Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Nana Patole, the president of the Congress state unit, were also in attendance.
“I will support any candidate chosen by the Congress and NCP(SP) as the CM candidate for MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi],” The Hindu quoted Thackeray as saying.
“This isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s about fighting for Maharashtra’s rights.”
In order to preserve the dignity and interests of the state, Thackeray pleaded for the Maha Vikas Aghadi's members to put aside their personal ambitions. The leader of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) continued, saying that, in contrast to the recent Lok Sabha elections, which were about preserving democracy and the Constitution, the Assembly elections will be a fight to protect Maharashtra's self-respect.
The Thackeray Sena secured nine seats in the state at the general elections. With 13 seats, the Congress became the state's largest party, while the Nationalist Congress Party, led by Sharad Pawar, gained eight. There are 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra.
In contrast, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction won seven seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won nine seats and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group managed to win one seat.
The three parties are members of the National Democratic coalition at the Centre as well as the Mahayuti coalition, which rules the state. Overall sum, the BJP secured 240 Lok Sabha seats, a marked decrease from its 2019 total of 303 seats. It was forced to rely on its coalition partners in the NDA to establish the government because it did not receive the necessary 272 seats to secure a majority.