Taking a sharp dig at Sharad Pawar on his chief ministerial face remark, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday asserted that the people of Maharashtra will choose their CM whoever they have in mind.
Addressing reporters in Mumbai, Raut said, "People will make the person who is in their mind the CM... Let's see who wins how many seats, and it (CM face) will be decided later, but Maha Vikas Aghadi is getting a majority. Our first task is to remove this corrupt government. After that, we can discuss the CM face anytime."
Earlier, on Wednesday, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar said there was no need for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to declare a chief ministerial face ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls with his ally Shiv Sena (UBT) saying there was no tussle over the post.
The MVA's chief ministerial candidate will be decided on the basis of which party wins the most number of Assembly seats in the opposition alliance, Pawar asserted.
The rift between Pawar and Thackeray over the Chief Ministerial candidate has been a significant point of contention in Maharashtra politics. Both, despite being allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, have had differing visions and strategies regarding leadership roles.
Speaking about Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray skipping MP Rahul Gandhi's event at Sangli on Thursday for the inauguration of the life-size statue of party stalwart Patangrao Kadam, Raut said that the party leader is not upset and there was no politics behind his decision to stay away. “He had pre-scheduled events and meetings, and therefore he won’t be available for the Sangli function,” Raut said.
Raut also targeted Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the arrest of Sculture Jaydeep Apte, who had been absconding for the past two weeks following the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Rajkot Fort in Malvan.
He said, "Jaidev Apte has been arrested on Wednesday after almost two weeks. And Fadnavis knows it very well who has been hiding him all this while. He will be released soon."
(Inputs from agencies)
