Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut.
Credit: X/@Vinayakrauts
Ratnagiri: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vinayak Raut on Sunday said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar should come back to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if he wants to become the CM.
Raut, who is a secretary of his party and was the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP twice in the past, said Pawar cannot become the chief minister in the existing political alliance.
The ruling coalition of Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Pawar’s NCP and the Shiv Sena, headed by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde.
Congress, Sena (UBT) under Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP (SP) are the constituents of the opposition bloc MVA.
“Ajit Pawar can never be the CM in the alliance he is currently in. If he has to become the CM, he must return to the MVA. Instead of dreaming about becoming the CM, he must come to a place where he can get that opportunity,” Raut said.
In 2023, Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led cabinet, along with eight other NCP leaders, splitting the Sharad Pawar-founded Nationalist Congress Party. He subsequently got the party’s name and its ‘clock’ symbol.
Ajit Pawar is known to be Maharashtra’s longest-serving deputy CM, having occupied the post six times in the past.
He has publicly spoken about his chief ministerial ambitions in the past.
In last year’s assembly elections, the Mahayuti won 230 – BJP (132), NCP (41) and Sena (57) – of the state’s 288 seats, while the MVA was reduced to just 46.