Next Maharashtra CM will be from Congress, says party leader Prithviraj Chavan

Mumbai, Sep 30 (PTI) The Congress will replicate its Lok Sabha election success in Maharashtra in the upcoming assembly polls and the next chief minister of the state will be from the party, its senior leader Prithviraj Chavan asserted on Monday.

The former CM expressed confidence that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), of which the Congress is a key constituent, will win more than 180 seats in the 288-member assembly and form government.

“The Congress won the maximum seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, and it will repeat its performance in the assembly polls. The next chief minister of Maharashtra will be from the Congress party,” Chavan declared.

He made the statement while speaking at a party event in Satara in western Maharashtra, around 275km from Mumbai.

The MVA, which also includes the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), bagged 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Of these, the Congress alone won 13 seats and was the only party to cross the double-digit mark. The Grand Old Party had bagged just one seat in 2019.

MVA leaders have refrained from announcing a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the elections, which are likely to be held in November, though Congress functionaries have been insisting their party will win the maximum seats and get the top post.

“The Congress had a very good strike rate in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections. Going by the 65 per cent seats won by the MVA in the Lok Sabha polls, the alliance will win 183 or more seats in the assembly elections,” he emphasised.

The former Union minister noted the Congress will regain its hold in the Vidarbha region, where the ruling BJP over the years has emerged as a dominant political force.

“The Congress is going to sweep Vidarbha. Dalits, Muslims and Marathas from the Marathwada region, who are seeking reservation benefits, have defeated (candidates of Mahayuti or BJP-led NDA) in the Lok Sabha polls,” he pointed out.

Two weeks ago, senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said he was “100 per cent confident” the next chief minister of the state will be from his party.

Reacting to Thorat’s assertion, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had stressed the Congress should avoid assuming the role of a “big brother” in the opposition alliance.

In early September, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar said there was no need to declare a CM face before the assembly elections.

The CM candidate will be decided on the basis of which party wins the most number of seats in the alliance, Pawar had said.