Battle for CM intensifies even before state goes to polls

Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thoratrsquos declaration that the party will have its chief minister installed triggered a sharp reaction from the Shiv Sena UBT The statement has come while the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA has decided to not project anyone as a CM aspirant or discuss the issue openly while seatsharing talks are on so that fissures if any are not evident ahead of the Assembly elections The statement also came in the backdrop of Uddhav Thackerayrsquos recent remark that he had never aspired for the top postThorat spoke about the partyrsquos high confidence in installing its CM at a party workersrsquo meeting on Thursday He indicated that the Congress which emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtrarsquos Lok Sabha election results will repeat the feat in the Assembly polls that are due this winterNo place for regional partiesThe statement pitted the Congress a national party directly against another national outfit the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP which like the Congress has demanded more share in seatsharing and aims to have its leader as the next CM In a way it appeared that the regional parties from both fronts two factions of the Sena and Nationalist Congress Party have a limited scope in Maharashtrarsquos electoral battlegroundlsquoCongress up because of SenarsquoSena UBT chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said there was nothing like a big or little brother in the MVA which was a threeparty coalition ldquoStill if someone is desperate to know who is a big or small brother then the picture in Maharashtra will become clear in the near future But I think that the senior Congress leaders have a very clear viewrdquo he said adding that it was time the Congress knew about the Senarsquos contribution to its victory at three more Lok Sabha seatsldquoWe gave them our winning Lok Sabha seats of Kolhapur Ramtek and Amravati Their number increased because of this It is inappropriate for them if they want to forget about it I again tell you that the senior leadership of the Congress will never hold a view that state leadership doesrdquo he saidAccording to Raut not just the Congress had its confidence boosted because of the Lok Sabha results but it was true for other MVA partners too ldquoIs it that they will fight alone because their confidence level is high We all three will have to work together to get our confidence higherrdquo he said Raut said the distribution of seats for the Lok Sabha was easier than for the Assembly because there were only 48 seats ldquoBut in the Assembly we have 288 seats and we have three main parties and in addition we also have smaller allies Our view is to accommodate all smaller parties I think we will succeed in doing thatrdquoThorat said he did not say anything wrong ldquoRemember what I say I said the MVA will have its CM The Congress will have its CM as it is part of the MVArdquo Since 1995 the undivided Sena has had three CMsmdashManohar Joshi Narayan Rane between 1995 and 1999 and Uddhav Thackeray 201922Thackeray headed a coalition government that was made in 2019rsquos unprecedented political situation The rivals the Sena and CongressNCP had joined hands to keep the BJP at bay Before that the BJP had made a threeday government with undivided NCPrsquos Ajit PawarPower struggle in NDAEknath Shinde who was a cabinet minister in the Thackeray cabinet split the Sena in 2022 to become a CM of the BJP majority regime BJPrsquos hot contender for the top job and exCM Devendra Fadnavis was made Shindersquos deputy A year later Ajit Pawar broke the NCP to become a DyCM in the Shinde government The tripartite arrangement has led to a power struggle with all constituents demanding more seats to contest so that they win more to stake claim to the CMrsquos postThe BJP is unwilling to settle for anything less than the number of seats it fought in 2019 160 plus out of 288 Shinde Sena and NCP have not yet agreed to share the rest between them It is said that the final formula could be achieved when the union minister Amit Shah visits Maharashtra next weekThird frontAs the fight is clearly between the two major alliances where space is very tight some smaller parties have decided to form a third front Swabhimani Shetkari farmers Sanghatanarsquos former MP Raju Shetti Prahar chief and former minister Bacchu Kadu and former Rajya Sabha member Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati have come together to form a third front for the assembly elections In addition Prakash Ambedkarrsquos Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will fight solo and its onetime partner AIMIM too has taken an independent routeGoing by Raj Thackerayrsquos statements and prepoll campaign tours his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will also contest the elections on its own He plans to field candidates in over 200 seats His son Amit who heads the partys youth wing is being tipped as a potential contestant from Mumbairsquos Bhandup constituencyHowever BJPrsquos longtime ally Ramdas Athawale Republican Party of India is not convinced about MNSs standalone posturing Fearing that Raj could be inducted into NDA Mahayuti he has said that the addition of MNS would deny him his share He said he has asked for 10 to 12 seats from the BJP which itself wants at least 155 to 160 seats to contest to win the numbers that will install its CMThe Jarange factorA longstanding agitation for the Maratha reservation has emerged as a new political force Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil who has sat on hunger strike on multiple occasions had given a call to beat Mahayuti candidates in Lok Sabha but it turned out that the agitations real target was the BJP The dent the Marathas caused led to the BJPs fall in certain Marathadominated seatsAhead of the Assembly elections Jarange has intensified his stir and prepared his candidates to be fielded He has interviewed prospective Maratha candidates and he is expected to get more as the established parties start declaring theirrespective candidates288No of Assembly seats in Maharashtra