No need for MVA CM face: Pawar counters Uddhav

Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that there is no need for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to declare a chief ministerial face ahead of the state assembly elections.

Talking to reporters in Kolhapur, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar president said the decision on who will be the chief minister can be made after the poll results.

The chief ministerial candidate will be decided on the basis of which party wins the most number of seats in the alliance, he said.

Pawar said he will want the MVA to complete the seat sharing process and start the poll campaign at the earliest.

"MVA leaders should sit for talks beginning September 7 to 9," he said, adding he expects the election process to be completed by the second week of November.

Talks among the MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the NCP-SP and the Congress, should include the Peasants and Workers party (PWP), the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist as well, Pawar said.

"These parties have some pockets of influence in the state and they helped the MVA in the Lok Sabha elections," he said.

Earlier on August 17, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray insisted that the MVA decide its chief ministerial face first rather than going by the logic of which party wins most seats.

Thackeray asserted that he would back any candidate announced by the Congress and the NCP-SP.