MUMBAI: Stung by the defeat at the hands of the Congress-NCP alliance in the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly polls, the Shiv Sena has threatened the people of dire consequences emerging out of its defeat.
In a front page editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, Sena leaders are quoted of stating that the Sena suffered the worst humiliating defeat in 20 years due to the change of mindset of the “Gen Next” and said that the Sena will forever remember this defeat.
The editorial blamed the Congress for division of Marathi votes and said that the Congress had adopted the British formula of divide and rule, and succeeded in its game plan.
“Our defeat will fire sparks which will set the state of Maharashtra ablaze,” the paper warned, an indication that the Sena would intensify violent agitations and create trouble in the state.
Meanwhile, after achieving a clear majority in the assembly polls, all attention is now on who would bag the chief minister’s post. The state parliamentary committee is meeting on Saturday in Mumbai where all the newly elected Congress legislators would assemble to elect their leader who would be the chief minister.
Senior Congress leaders speaking to Arab News said that since the Congress had performed very well in the polls under Chief Minister Ashokrao Chavan, it is almost certain that the Congress high command in New Delhi would prefer to retain Chavan as the chief minister.
A three-member team of senior Congress leaders that include AK Anthony, the party in-charge for Maharashtra affairs, General-Secretary Digvijay Singh and Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K. Rahman would be present as party observers at the legislators meeting.
However, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has also thrown his hat into the ring for the chief minister’s post. The names of Federal Minister and former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde are also doing the rounds in the Congress camp for the chief minister’s post. But both the federal ministers have made it known that they are happy in the federal ministerial posts and are not interested in the state chief minister’s post.
