Even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan clarified that the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) would contest the upcoming assembly polls as an alliance, he flatly denied that its chief Sharad Pawar had been asked to lead the campaign.
Last month Mr. Pawar had told reporters that the Congress high command had asked him to lead the Maharashtra campaign. “I have been told by my leaders that this is not so,” Mr. Chavan said in his first press conference after the party announced that he would continue as Chief Minister. Mr. Pawar had made the comment in the midst of rising speculation that the Congress was considering replacing Mr. Chavan before the polls.
When asked about the NCP’s demand that it be given half the assembly seats in its seat-sharing deal with the Congress, Mr. Chavan said, “These issues will be discussed between the leaders of both the parties.”
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While conceding that there was anger against the UPA in the Lok Sabha polls, and that it had made mistakes, Mr. Chavan said that the BJP had gained by using media and marketing successfully. “The Election Commission should analyse the amount of coverage of the BJP in television to see if it was a case of paid news,” he said.
On the progress of the monsoon in the state, Mr. Chavan said, “The monsoon has been delayed by a month. We are worried and even now it is not uniform. The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted a weak monsoon but we are taking the precautions we can.”
The contentious issue of the Local Body Tax on which traders were agitating, Mr. Chavan said an acceptable solution was still being discussed. “The Finance department is considering the option of VAT with surcharge but the Mumbai municipality wants Octroi to continue and we need a uniform scheme,” he said. Once there was a consensus, the state was willing to issue an ordinance, Mr. Chavan said.
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