Shiv Sena, NCP to forge an alliance for future polls in Maharashtra: Sena mouthpiece
Days after Maharashtra Congress said that it will contest solo in the 2024 assembly elections, the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party(NCP), the other two parties of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), have announced to go together in the state polls.
On Thursday, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana noted that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP are keen on forging an alliance for Maharashtra state elections, scheduled to take place in 2024.
“BJP and Congress are preparing to contest elections on their own. If every party is trying to do so, then Shiv Sena and NCP, keeping in viewthe interests of Maharashtra, will have to contest the elections in alliance,” the Saamana editorial noted.
Earlier, Sena’s senior leader Sanjay Raut expressed his party’s willingness to contest the polls with NCP for the welfare of the state. In response, state NCP chief Jayant Patil also exhibited confidence in continuing the alliance with Sena in the state. He further hoped that the Congress party would reconsider its decision of solo contest ahead of the elections.
Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress came together to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in 2019 to jointly run the Maharashtra government after the assembly elections.
Earlier this week, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said that the Sonia Gandhi-led party would fight all upcoming elections in the state alone.
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“He (Patole) has announced that his party would fight the next Assembly elections on its own and install a chief minister of the Congress. He has also said that if the party allows, he himself would bethe next chief ministerial face. Hence, it is clear that until Patole installs a Congress chief minister in Maharashtra in 2024, he won’t sit quiet,” the mouthpiece added in the editorial.
Furthermore, BJP leader Raosaheb Danve stressed his party would go solo in the Maharashtra polls, adding that a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will not take place in the future.
In view of the ongoing political developments, Sena mouthpiece also asked the political parties if they have any plans for mid-term polls with their announcements.
“The 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are still far away, but the major political parties (BJP and Congress) are suddenly talking of contesting the elections independently. Are there any plans to have mid-term polls?” Sena asked.
Last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar held a closed-door meeting with poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence. As per reports, the two discussed the prevailing political situation in the state along with MVA’sperformance and strategy for the 2024 state elections.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar has said that those getting the support of 145 legislators in the 288-member Assembly will form the next government and subsequently decide the chief minister.