Congress sends a signal in Thorat’s promotion

Mumbai: The visits of senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat with Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday has set tongues wagging in political circles. Many believe that the party’s decision to anoint Thorat as its chief negotiator indicates that he would be the top contender for the Chief Minister’s post if The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) returns to the power.

Though few Congress leaders rubbished the rumours stating that almost all negotiations have been complete and that they are all set to announce the final list of candidates any day now, sources within the party claim that the reason Thorat has been given all powers because not only is he more accessible to all alliance partners and has a clean image free of controversies but also because ethe party High Command is projecting him as a possible Chief Ministerial candidate in case the Congress party wins more seats in the polls.

“Thorat comes from Western Maharashtra and is in good terms with Pawarsaheb. He had also increased the party’s tally in the last polls. Hence it is obvious like someone like him should be in talks with the stature of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackaray. No one wants to interact with Prithviraj Chavan because he doesn’t have the credentials of Thorat,” said a NCP leader on conditions of anonymity.

Nizamuddin Rayen, Spokesperson for Mumbai Regional Congress Committee though prefers to differ. “All negotiations have all been done and completed. All four leaders of the party Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, and Balasaheb Thorat have been involved in the negotiations and talks. The reason Prithvirajji isn’t much seen is because he has been given the task of creating the party manifesto,” he says adding that due to the Haryana results, the Congress party is taking Maharashtra very seriously and have appointment two external senior leaders, one ex CM and another a senior leader of the party in every division of the assembly constituencies.

“The Congress is a party which has many leaders who are both astute experienced and have a rich understanding of politics and coalition politics of Maharashtra. So, there is nothing much to read on who is being picked and who is not being picked,” says Nadeem Nusrath, General Secretary of Mumbai Congress and Spokesperson for Maharashtra.

“Balasaheb Thorat’s name is going around maybe because there others who are being given some other duties. Prithviraj Chahan is already preoccupied with writing the party manifesto which is also the most crucial job in an election.

There is Varsha Gaikwad,  who has caught the imagination of the Maharashtra voter by her Mumbai Nyay Yatra. All of these people are working as a team. And this team is going to deliver the results whatever matters in the end. It is not the question of who is good and who is bad in negotiations, it is just this that they are being utilised at the same time. They are all first among the equals.”