Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has suggested that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar be considered for the 2022 presidential election. Raut also claimed that by 2022, there will be enough numbers “on our side” to decide the presidential candidate.
Pawar had played a key role in bringing together the Congress and the Shiv Sena, parties with contrasting ideologies, to form the Maharashtra government after snatching it from the grasps of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Talking to PTI, Raut said, "Sharad Pawar is a senior leader of the country. I think his name should be considered by all political parties for the post of President, the election for which will be held in 2022."
The BJP and the Sena, which fought the Maharastra Assembly polls in November last year in an alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively. But after the former declined to share the chief minister's post, Sena walked away from the three-decade-long ties to join hands with NCP (54 seats) and the Congress (44 seats).
Asked about the opinion of other political parties on fielding the former Union minister and four-time state chief minister, Raut said he has "merely proposed" Pawar's name.
"I think other political parties can also propose other senior candidates for the post of President. By 2022, there will be enough numbers on our side to decide the presidential candidate," said the Rajya Sabha member.
Not all is well within the three-party coalition though.
There had been reports that discontent is brewing within the alliance after Pawar's party got most of the 'plum' ministries, including Home and Finance, in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.
A section of the Maharashtra Congress leaders is blaming the state unit chief Balasaheb Thorat for the party getting a “raw deal” as compared to the Shiv Sena and the NCP.
Some Congress leaders say they demanded at least two ministries from the list comprising agriculture, rural development, industries, housing, transport and cooperation, but the allies Shiv Sena and NCP refused to pay heed.
Their ire is also directed towards NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who emerged as the key player in the alliance, with a Congress leader claiming that they need someone in the state unit who could stand up to the Maratha strongman.
