Jalgaon (Maharashtra): Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was capable of becoming Maharashtra Chief Minister since he has vast administrative experience, the former's statement comes days after the two engaged in a verbal duel.
Raut, a key aide of Uddhav Thackeray, also said some undeserving people had become CM of the state by engineering splits, an apparent reference to Eknath Shinde whose rebellion, along with 40 MLAs in June last year brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. "Who would not like to be the Chief Minister? And Ajit Pawar is capable of becoming the Chief Minister. He has been in politics for so many years now and has been minister several times. He holds a record for having served as the Deputy CM for the most number of times. Everyone thinks one should become the CM," Raut told reporters. Raut's statement comes a day after Pawar, during an interview with a media house in Pune, responded to a query on his Chief Ministerial ambitions by saying "Yes, I would 100 per cent like to be the CM."
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Raut said, "He (Pawar) has not expressed this desire for the first time. So, my best wishes to him." These statements come amid intense speculation about Pawar's next political move, as the mercurial NCP leader cancelled some of his programmes recently, went incommunicado briefly and skipped the party's one-day convention in Mumbai on Friday. Last week, there was speculation that Ajit Pawar would extend support to the BJP-Shinde Sena faction, but NCP supremo Sharad Pawar took control of the situation. Ajit Pawar also said that he will desert the NCP.
