Maharashtra: Will Back Any Candidate From Cong, Sharad Pawar's NCP As MVA's CM Face, Says Uddhav

Addressing the MVA cadres at a meeting in Mumbai, Thackeray said that the assembly elections in the state are a fight to protect the self-respect of Maharashtra.

Notably, the dates for the assembly elections in Maharashtra have not been announced yet. It is expected that the polls in Maharashtra will be held in October or November.

The electoral battle in the state will be between the Mahayuti (NDA alliance grouping) and MVA -- Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress.

"Uddhav Thackeray will back any candidate announced by Congress and NCP(SP) as the CM face of MVA. I don't have the feeling that I am fighting for myself but for the rights of Maharashtra," Thackeray said at the meeting.

He said that the Chief Ministerial pick should be decided first, rather than going by the logic of the party which will win the majority seats in the elections.

He noted that during his alliance with the BJP, the experience was that whoever had the numbers would get the CM's post. But this was policy was not a good one as it would lead to one party trying to defeat the other's candidate to maintain an upper hand in the alliance.

“First, decide (the CM’s face) and then go ahead but do not go by this policy (those having the most seats will get the CM’s post),” Thackeray said.

Thackeray asked the MVA cadres to rise above self-interest and fight for the sake of protecting Maharashtra's pride and interest. He urged them to the ambassadors of the opposition alliance in the state.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also challenged the Election Commission of India to announce the assembly election dates for the state.

ATTACK ON BJP

While encouraging the MVA cadres for the assembly elections in the state, Uddhav Thackeray also utilised the opportunity to slam the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He started off by condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech. Referring to Modi's "secular civil code" remark, Thackeray asked whether the PM had "given up Hindutva".

PM Modi, from the ramparts of the secular civil code, had said, "I would say, it is the need of the hour that India should have a secular civil code. We have lived 75 years with a communal civil code. Now, we have to move towards a secular civil code. Only then would religion-based discrimination end. It would also end the disconnect the common people feel.”

Thackeray asked the PM, “Have you abandoned Hindutva? You aligned with Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar who do not believe in Hindutva.”

He also targeted the BJP over the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and asked the party as to why it did not pass the bill when the BJP was in absolute majority.

“Why did you bring the Waqf Bill to wedge the divide between us? And if you had to bring it, why did you not do it when you had the majority? My MPs were not there because they were with me. If it was going to be discussed, our MPs would have taken part in it,” Thackeray said.

Notably, Shiv Sena (UBT) had come under criticism for not putting its view on the bill when it was up for discussion in the Lok Sabha last week.

The bill was sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny.

“If you are going to steal Waqf Board land and give it to your industrialist friends, just like you are taking away land from our Hindu temples and giving it to your contractor friends, we will not allow any wrongdoing,” he said.

2019 RECAP

The previous assembly elections in Maharashtra -- held in 2019 -- resulted in nothing short of a roller coaster ride for the state.

The victory was initially secured by the NDA, comprising of the BJP and Shiv Sena. They formed of a coalition government since they fell short of a clear majority.

However, given the disagreements between the two parties over several matters -- including the Chief Minister's post -- the alliance ended up being dissolved in November 2019.

Though Devendra Fadnavis held the CM post and Ajit Pawar held his deputy's post for a very short time, both of them resigned before a floor test.

This ultimately led to the formation of the Maha Vikas Agadhi government, which comprised of Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress. But unfortunately, this also did not last. In 2022, Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde partnered up with the BJP, resulting in the fall of the MVA government.

Following this, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis as his Deputy Chief Minister. Notably, NCP's Ajit Pawar also holds the Deputy CM post.