Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said he is willing to support any CM candidate put up by allies Congress or Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) in order to “save” the State.
“My party will support any CM candidate declared by Congress or NCP (SP) to save Maharashtra,” he said while addressing an event in Mumbai.
Mr. Thackeray also accused the State government of creating fake narratives through advertisements ahead of the election for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, which is likely to take place next month.
He criticised the Mahayuti government’s flagship ‘Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’, under which ₹1,500 is given to married, divorced, and destitute women aged 21 to 65, with a family income cap of ₹2.5 lakh annually. He said the government was giving people money that belonged to them in the first place through such schemes, thereby betraying them.
The former CM had in August stressed the need for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to decide on the CM face before going to poll rather than taking a call on it based on the individual tally of the coalition’s constituents.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut had then remarked upon the party chief’s “generous” gesture.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Haryana poll outcome will not affect Maharashtra’s politics, and the party cadre is not demoralised by the election result in the northern State.
“The Maha Vikas Aghadi will unitedly defeat the Eknath Shinde-led government,” said Mr. Chennithala, the All India Congress Committee’s Maharashtra in-charge, at a press conference. He added that the political situation in the two States is completely different.
“People in the State are ready for a change and to bring in a new government. We will soon release our manifesto. Our morale is upbeat. The current regime (in Maharashtra) is not a people’s government. It came into existence by defections,” he said.
Efforts are on to conclude seat-sharing talks at the earliest, he added.
Mr. Chennithala also criticised the State government for making “unfeasible, bulk decisions”, which, he said, have been weakening Maharashtra’s finances.
“The Cabinet is taking 40-50 decisions a day, which can’t be implemented as there is not enough money to finance them,” said the Congress leader.
Published - October 09, 2024 01:02 am IST
