No MVA ally should name CM face, instead focus on gaining power: Jayant Patil

The Sharad Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party NCP SP state president Jayant Patil on Wednesday said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA constituents should stay away from naming a CM candidate ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections and instead focus on returning to power in the state reported the PTIJayant Patil also said that no MVA ally should unilaterally declare the number of seats it is contesting as winnability will be the only criteria in the upcoming pollsThe MVA an alliance of Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar Shiv Sena UBT and Congress was in power in the state from November 2019 However it collapsed in June 2022 after the Shiv Sena split following a rebellion led by Maharashtra CM Eknath ShindeOf the three MVA allies the NCP SP has clocked 80 per cent strike rate in the Lok Sabha elections by winning eight out of 10 seats it contestedJayant Patil was present in the city to attend partyrelated programmes and meetingsThe Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents should stay away from naming anyone as the chief minister candidate Instead their priority should be returning to power There should be no competition among the alliance members to avoid a gap the former state minister said according to the PTIOn seatsharing in the MVA for the assembly polls he said the allies planned to hold a meeting on June 25 but Congress also had a meeting that day so a new date will be finalisedThere is no need to declare unilaterally the number of seats that the parties are contesting Winnability will be the criteria for the candidates in the upcoming polls and we will support such candidates he said the news agency reported on WednesdayAhead of this years Lok Sabha elections 2024 the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBT had announced candidates for 21 out of the total 48 seats in the state Its decision had drawn flak from the Congress which said every MVA constituent must follow the coalition dharma The Congress finally contested 17 seats while the NCP SP fought on 10 seatsAfter the Lok Sabha poll results the Sharad Pawarled party gained an upper hand as it won eight out of 10 seats its contested The Congress which had won only one Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in the 2019 polls made an impressive comeback winning 13 out of the 17 seats it contestedThe Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena UBT recorded a strike rate of 41 per cent winning only nine of the 21 seats it contestedJayant Patil said inducting leaders from the rival NCP led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was not the priority of the partyTaking old colleagues back is not our priority But the party workers who could not become part of the Eknath Shindeled government and were used to making an entry into power are in our contact New people youth faces are joining us he said as per the PTIThe NCP SP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday maintained that there was no issue in welcoming people back from the rival NCP as their entry will benefit the opposition outfit and boost the morale of workersOn the protests linked to different castes over reservation in the Marathwada region he said This is very seriousThere should be social equality People of all religions and castes have lived together in villages and efforts should be made so that they remain together the news agency reportedwith PTI inputs