Next CM will be from NCP, says Jayant Patil

“It is satisfying to note that the next chief minister will be from the NCP and almost everyone has accepted the same,” Patil said in Karad on Saturday. “I am sure under the leadership of (Sharad) Pawar saheb, NCP will become number one party in the state,” Patil added

Mumbai: Amid speculations of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar moving out of the party with a group of MLAs and his supporters putting up posters projecting him as the future chief minister, the party state chief Jayant Patil claimed that the next CM will be from their party. He said that the NCP is going to become the single largest party in the state.

Maharashtra finance minister Jayant Patil. (Hemant Padalkar/HT photo)

“It is satisfying to note that the next chief minister will be from the NCP and almost everyone has accepted the same,” Patil said in Karad on Saturday.

“I am sure under the leadership of (Sharad) Pawar saheb, NCP will become number one party in the state,” Patil added.

Patil is considered as a Pawar loyalist and his statement came at the time when Ajit Pawar’s supporters are putting up hoardings in several cities declaring the latter as the future CM. In a recent interview, Ajit Pawar too openly stated that he would like to become the CM.

Ajit Pawar is considered number two in the party after the senior Pawar and wields influence over a significant number of MLAs. Recently, he was upset with the Shiv Sena (UBT) projecting its chief Uddhav Thackeray as the leader of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

On the other hand, when the NCP chief and junior Pawar have dismissed all the speculations of a split in the party, NCP MP from Shirur (Pune) Amol Kolhe has said that he sees Patil as the most ideal CM of the state. Responding to Patil’s remarks, Ajit Pawar said, “May what he (Patil) said comes true.”

He also reiterated that no NCP MLA is in touch with BJP. “Neither anyone from NCP is in their (BJP) touch nor anyone from other (BJP) side is in touch with us. Stop this speculation now,” the opposition leader said, adding that he does not know if anyone is in touch with Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena.

Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) too reacted to the statement saying that the party having maximum number of MLAs in MVA will get the chief minister position.