On a day when his party cadres once again upped the ante for projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray sought to down play the issue and said that the leaders of “Maha-Yuti” (opposition grand alliance) would collectively decide as to who would be the CM nominee in the coming weeks.
“Time has not yet come to announce the CM candidate. The Maha-yuti leaders will sit across and decide as to who will be our CM candidate,” Uddhav said, while talking to media persons after a meeting of party's office bearers held at the Rang Sharada auditorium at Bandra in north-west Mumbai on Thursday on the occasion of the Sena's 48th foundation day.
Fielding a spate of queries on the issue, Uddhav said: “I would like to first tell the people of the state as to what my party wants to do for them, if elected. later let us discuss among ourselves within the Maha-Yuti and decide as to who will be our joint CM candidate”.
When his attention was drawn to Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut's renewed clamour for projecting him as the CM candidate, Uddhav said: “Sanjay Raut is a Shiv Sainik. He and others love me as a leader. That's why they want me to be in that position. But, I respect their sentiments”.
“I have not so far thought about my becoming the chief minister …Because of untimely death of Gopinath Munde, we in the Maha-yuti have not met nor have so far discussed the leadership issue. We - Maha-Yuti leaders - will soon meet and discuss as to how to recover from the setback caused by Munde's sudden demise,” he said.