NCP ready to stake claim to Maharashtra CM post any time: Ajit Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Friday said that his party is ready to stake claim to the Maharashtra chief minister’s (CM’s) post at any point of time instead of waiting for the 2024 general elections.

Pawar was speaking to the media at Pune District Cooperative Bank.

Asked why the NCP was obsessed with the CM’s post, he said, “In the year 2004, NCP had more seats than Congress and the post of chief minister was all set to go to the NCP but the party got the deputy chief minister post. NCP is the leading party. We are ready to stake claim to the CM’s post at any time instead of waiting for the general elections.”

Pawar also addressed various issues related to the cooperative sector and to the performance of Pune District Cooperative Bank. Friday afternoon, he visited Ahmednagar Road and reviewed the work on various projects.

Rumours about Ajit Pawar’s next political move started swirling last week when he suddenly cancelled his scheduled meetings and also made comments which were seen as being soft on the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s camp. The BJP is part of the Shinde government.

The NCP leader proposed that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) extend the double-decker highway from Wagholi to Shikrapur till Viman Nagar to ease traffic congestion on Ahmednagar Road. Pawar promised to call a meeting with union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari for the purpose. Pawar also proposed that the Maha Metro carry out its metro planning by taking into consideration the flyover from Shikrapur to Viman Nagar.

Earlier this week, the NCP leader also clarified that he did not take any signature of any MLAs regarding the rumours of joining hands with the BJP.