Amid speculation over his next political move, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said his outfit can stake a claim to the post of Maharashtra's chief minister now also instead of waiting for 2024 when Assembly polls are due in the state.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly also told an interviewer that he will 100 per cent like to be chief minister of Maharashtra. Pawar was speaking to the media at Pune District Cooperative Bank.
Pawar revealed his colleague late R R Patil would have become Chief Minister in 2004 when the NCP had won more Assembly seats than its ally Congress, but a message came from Delhi that his party will get the deputy CM's post.
Asked whether the NCP will stake a claim for the chief minister's post next year when Assembly polls are due in Maharashtra, he remarked, Why 2024, we are ready to stake a claim for the CM position now also. He, however, did not elaborate on the statement.
During the rapid fire round, the MLA from Baramati in Pune district, who has served as deputy CM multiple times, was asked by the interviewer whether he would like to become chief minister. To this, Pawar promptly replied, Yes, I would 100 per cent like to be (CM).
Asked why the NCP has an attraction for the deputy CM's position as the party has got that post on multiple occasions in the last 20 years, the veteran politician said in 2004, the NCP and the Congress fought Assembly elections in an alliance and the former had won more seats.
We got 71 seats, while the Congress won 69. Everyone, including the Congress, thought CM would be from the NCP. However, some decisions were taken at the highest level and a message came from Delhi that the NCP will get the deputy chief minister position and the CM post went to Congress, he said.
In the subsequent Assembly polls, the Congress bagged more seats than the NCP and naturally kept the CM's post with itself, he said. Asked whether he liked working with Congress CM Prithviraj Chavan or Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, who occupied the top post from November 2019 to June 2022, Pawar said they worked with the latter "happily, but working with the former was out of choice.
On Shinde's revolt and subsequent split in the Shiv Sena, the former deputy CM said they used to hear that Shinde, then his Cabinet colleague in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, was unhappy and sensed something was going on in his mind.