In a snub to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the Congress on Saturday said the party would emerge victorious in the 2014 elections and take a call on the Chief Minister’s post in Maharashtra.
In an interview given to a prominent English daily, Mr. Pawar had said that the NCP would elect the next Chief Minister after the elections. It had been a mistake to offer the Chief Minister’s post to the Congress after the 2004 elections. “The question as to who will become the Chief Minister is an issue that would be resolved only after the denouement of the 2014 elections,” Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant told The Hindu .
“While there are a number of aspirants casting their eyes on the chief ministership, we [the Congress] have always scored more than the NCP in the Assembly polls,” said Mr. Sawant, in a rebuke to Mr. Pawar.
In the interview, Mr. Pawar asserted that the NCP would insist on more seats for both the Parliamentary and Assembly elections.
Concerning his own aspirations for the top job in the State, Mr. Pawar subtly expressed there was nothing wrong in aspiring to be chief minister, though he stated that the NCP Legislature Party would have to elect the chief minister.
