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Journalism of Courage
The NCP should have asserted its right for the post of the chief minister way back in 2004, as it was then the single largest party, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Ajit Pawar, said on Friday.
During an interview to Marathi Lokmat News channel, Pawar said, “I am of the view that NCP made a mistake by letting the CM post go to its alliance partner Congress in 2004. If the CM was from our party, the scenario in Maharashtra would now have been very different.”
“The NCP had most number of elected representatives. Our seniors should have considered anyone for the CM’s post, such as R R Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal, or any other aspirant. It would have helped the organisation… Things would have been very different.”
He added, “Unfortunately, at that time we were junior (members in the party). All decisions were taken by seniors Praful Patel, Padmasinh Patil, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Madhukar Pichad. They took the decision and we just had to nod our heads.”
In 2004, NCP had won 71 seats as against Congress’ 69. Yet, the NCP gave the CM post to Congress, which made Vilasrao Deshmukh the chief minister.
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