Days after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray slammed Congress for its repeated call to go solo in upcoming elections, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said there is nothing wrong for the party to aim at its emergence as the single largest party by contesting assembly elections independently. He said the MVA has been formed with a specific goal of keeping BJP out of power. ‘’Congress can tolerate the ideology of Shiv Sena but not of BJP,’’ he claimed.
‘’What is wrong if Congress announces to fight upcoming assembly elections independently and emerge as the single largest party to form the government under the party led Chief Minister?’’ asks Chavan. He said the Congress party is not strong in some districts and the efforts are on to further strengthen the party organisation there. State party chief Nana Patole’s announcement to go solo is to boost the morale of the party workers.
Asked if the next Chief Minister should be from the Congress, he said, "Congress is ranked fourth in Maharashtra. If Congress wins more legislators the party will have its Chief Minister in the state,’’ he noted.
Thackeray at the Shiv Sena’s 55th-anniversary function had said: “Some people are giving the slogan of going solo. Even I say that we can go solo, too. Everyone has the right to do so. Fighting alone should not be restricted to elections alone,” the CM said. He added, “People will beat us. What’s the use of this self-strength if people are being forced to beg on the road? What are we going to use this power for? We must fight this calamity by giving up the election-to-election mindset.” “We have a federal structure. Whenever regional pride is under threat, the federal structure comes under pressure," he said.
