Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and NCP chief Sharad Pawar
All is not well in Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress. The murmurs of discontent in the coalition have started once again.
While Congress leader Nana Patole said that ‘NCP’s aspiration to have its own chief minister in future is a daydream’, senior NCP leader Supriya Sule sought to downplay the remarks that “every political party needs to expand and be the CM”. I have the right to think”. ,
Notably, senior NCP leader and minister Dhananjay Munde said at a public rally in Beed that the Congress and NCP traded against each other, adding that the next chief minister of Maharashtra would be from the NCP.
“If tomorrow the question arises that to whom will the social justice department be handed over… who will be the next chief minister… and the chief minister will be ours (NCP’s) only. The chief minister will say that the social justice department remains with us (NCP),” he said. This department has earned such a reputation,” Munde had said on Saturday.
When Patole was asked about Munde’s remarks, he replied, “Most people dream at night, but some dream during the day.”
This was not the first time that Patole had made remarks highlighting the tension in the alliance. Patole had earlier said that he had apprised the party high command about the recent political moves of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP to weaken the Congress in the state.
Both the NCP and the Congress are constituents in the Shiv Sena-led government, which completed two-and-a-half years in power last month.
The Shiv Sena had snapped ties with the BJP after the November 2019 election results and joined hands with the Congress and the NCP to form a coalition government.