Mumbai: Despite Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut making it amply clear that Uddhav Thackeray will continue as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for 25 years, the social justice minister Dhananjay Munde on Saturday said the next chief minister will be from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
‘‘The next chief minister will be from the NCP and I will continue to hold the social justice department. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had made me the leader of opposition in the state council between 2014 and 2019 and I did full justice to the post. I give you word as the social justice minister that the next chief will be from the NCP and I will be the social justice minister again,’’ said Munde at the farmers’ rally in Satara district.
Responding to Munde’s projection, Shiv Sena legislator Manisha Kayande said, ‘‘The Shiv Sena does not take Munde’s statement seriously.’’
Munde’s statement has come on the heels of party MP Supriya Sule saying that let the next Chief Minister be from the NCP; when that happens, she will visit Tuljapur, the one amongst three and a half Shakti Peethas of the state, wherein resides the Mother Goddess Tulja Bhavani.
Sule had also said: The people of Maharashtra will decide whether I will accept the responsibility of the post of Chief Minister, adding that it was not for her to decide. She further she was not a soothsayer.
Incidentally, the Shiv Sena is heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with NCP and Congress as key allies.
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