Mumbai, Apr 22: Shiv Sena today lent a helping hand to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is trying to get elected to the state Legislative Council, saying that it will not field any candidate against him in the May 4 bypoll.
Chavan, who is not a member of either of the Houses of the Legislature, has to get elected before May 11 if he has to retain his post. He took over from Ashok Chavan, who resigned in the wake of the Adarsh Housing scam in November last year.
"Prithvirajaji, you get elected unopposed...Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan would have to get elected else he would lose the post. He has already filed his nomination," Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said in a press release here.
Stating that people have lost interest in the polls, Uddhav said a change in the Chief Minister's post for them is like "one Chavan (Ashok Chavan) gone and other replacing him."
On his decision to get the Chavan elected unopposed, Uddhav said "there was a question if he should be elected unopposed. It has become difficult for the people to trust Congress despite their many promises. Their Chief Minister has no power to take decisions. The decisions are taken at the Centre and the CMs are just puppets."
It is not yet clear if opposition BJP and MNS would be fielding their candidates against the Chief Minister for the bypoll.
Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Eknath Khadse of BJP yesterday said that he would discuss the issue with party leadership.
"Let us first decide whether to contest the election or not. If our leaders tell us not to contest, we will not," Khadse had said.
The 289 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly form the electoral college for the bypoll. Congress has 82 and CP has 62 MLAs.
The last day of filing nomination is April 23 and the scrutiny will take place two days later. The last day for withdrawing nomination is April 27. PTI
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