Interview/ Prithviraj Chavan, Former chief minister and senior Congress leader
Q/ The MVA did well in the Lok Sabha elections. How prepared is the Congress and the MVA for the assembly elections?
A/ Nobody has cooled down. People of Maharashtra have decided to throw the BJP government out. Many people said that the Lok Sabha result was unexpected. But, I don’t agree. We had predicted that we will get 30-32 seats. That was not bravado. It was based on analysis of the various regions of Maharashtra.
The mood is upbeat in the Congress and the MVA. We are absolutely strong. We are sensing that we will cause an upset.
Q/ If the Congress emerges as the single largest party and the MVA wins, who will be the chief minister?
A/ This is an irrelevant question right now. The Congress party sends its observers and then in consultation with the high command a name is decided in the larger interest of the party. The Congress usually does not name a person unless the person happens to be the incumbent chief minister. Then, he becomes the natural face. But, when in opposition we do not do it.
There has been a demand from Uddhav Thackeray. The high command will discuss it and, if they want to change policies, they will take a decision.
Q/ Do you think the high command is overawed by Thackeray?
A/ No. The policy has not been changed and I don’t think that is going to happen. In 2019, we selected Uddhav Thackeray because the Shiv Sena was the largest party. Whom he chose was their choice; two-three names were being discussed at the time. I do not want to dwell on this because it may create an impression that there are differences among us. There is no difference of opinion in the MVA. But, suppose, hypothetically speaking, if we name XYZ and his party does not do well in the elections. Then what happens? So, for stability, it is good that the largest party heads the government. But, what happens in the future I cannot predict.
Q/ Has the MVA set the target of winning 180 seats?
A/ I just said that considering the performance in the Lok Sabha elections. We won 31 seats, which is 65 per cent success. In an assembly of 288, 65 per cent comes to around 180 seats. Sharad Pawar has said that the MVA will win 225 seats. We are upbeat, we have a clear focus, there will not be a division of votes. The BJP appears to have panicked. Particularly the choice of election dates (decoupling Haryana and Maharashtra election dates). They cannot explain why they did that. If they think that they will win Haryana and that will send a positive signal, that is not going to happen because they are losing Haryana also.