Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray seen here delivering a speech.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: Rattling the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut on Thursday projected Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the opposition bloc.
While Raut’s statement came in New Delhi, Thackeray, while speaking to reporters in Mumbai, said that the MVA leadership would take a call on such issues.
Months after the Lok Sabha polls, the Vidhan Sabha polls in Maharashtra are expected to be held in October.
“It would be risky proposition to contest the assembly elections without a CM-face,” said Raut, the chief spokesperson of Shiv Sena (UBT) and close aide of Thackeray, who was Chief Minister between November 1999-June 2022 before being toppled.
The statement of Raut has not gone down well within the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s key allies Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
According to Raut, Thackeray was an ideal CM face for the MVA (I.N.D.I.A) and this reflects from the results of the Lok Sabha elections where the opposition combine has bagged 31 out of the 48 seats.
When asked, Thackeray said: "The MVA would discuss and take an appropriate decision."
Meanwhile, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said that the aim is to win the Vidhan Sabha elections. “We should be interested in coming to power,” he said.
State NCP (SP) President Jayant Patil said after the polls, the MLAs would decide who the Chief Minister would be.