Congress MLA Ramesh Chennithala clarified that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition has not yet projected a specific candidate for the Chief Minister position. Chennithala emphasized that the decision on who will lead as Chief Minister will be made after the upcoming elections. The remark came amid speculation about potential candidates and party strategies. Chennithala noted that, similar to their approach in the Lok Sabha elections where no single candidate was promoted, the MVA has chosen not to highlight any particular individual for the Chief Ministerial role at this stage.
“The focus right now is on the elections and ensuring the coalition’s success. We believe in assessing the political landscape post-elections to make an informed decision on leadership,” Chennithala explained. Chennithala affirmed that the MVA, which includes Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena (UBT), will contest the elections unitedly.“Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will fight elections together,” Chennithala declared. “Till now, we have discussed seat sharing twice, and our leaders will convene soon to finalize these discussions. Our face is MVA, and we will decide on the Chief Ministerial candidate after the elections. The MVA will contest the maximum number of seats, and we are committed to maintaining unity within the alliance.”
The MVA - an alliance of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar's NCP, and Congress - discussed seat-sharing in Mumbai on Saturday. After the meeting, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said 99 per cent seats in the capital city had been finalised. The term of the current Maharashtra State Assembly is scheduled to end in 2024, with the next legislative assembly election expected to be held in or before October 2024 to elect all 288 members of the state’s legislative assembly. However, the Election Commission of India has yet to confirm or announce the dates for the electoral polls. In the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, a 61.4% voter turnout led to a majority win for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, which led to the formation of a coalition as they fell short of a clear majority to form the government independently.
However, disagreements on government formation and power sharing, including the Chief Minister’s post, led to the dissolution of this alliance and a subsequent political stalemate, with the president’s rule being imposed in November 2019.A brief tenure saw Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, before they resigned prior to the floor test on November 28, 2019.As a result, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, a new coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress, formed the government with Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister. However, this arrangement ended in June 2022 when MLAs led by Eknath Shinde allied with the BJP, leading to his swearing-in as Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis as Deputy Chief Minister.