Congress youth wing chief backs Aaditya Thackeray for CM post

Mumbai: Congress Maharashtra youth wing president Satyajeet Tambe has suggested that Aaditya Thackeray become the chief minister. “Hich ti vel (it is the right time),” he wrote in a Facebook post. He advised the MLA not to wait for the “right age” to become the chief minister else he would lose the opportunity.

Claiming to be Thakeray’s friend, Mr Tambe wrote in his Facebook post, “In politics, time never comes back. So, use the opportunity to become the chief minister. You must get what you want and do not rely on anyone. If anyone asks you to wait till you become the right age, don’t listen…”

In his post, Mr Tambe shared his experience of the Ahmednagar Zilla Parishad election in 2007.

Despite winning the election and the people’s demand to make him president, a few Congress leaders refused to appoint him president. He asked to share the post for half the tenure i.e. 15 months but wasn’t allowed to become president.

At the time, he was 24-year-old and a few leaders cited his age as a reason to deny him the president’s post.

Later, the woman president who did not vacate the post made Mr Tambe lose the election with the help of other parties after which, he never became the Zilla Parishad president.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said his party will “consider” any “concrete” proposal on government formation in Maharashtra from the Shiv Sena, which is locked in a bitter tussle with the BJP over sharing of power.

The Sena and the BJP fought the October 21 Assembly polls in an alliance, winning 56 and 105 seats, respectively, but have gone on to take tough positions on government formation, with the former insisting on sharing the chief ministerial tenure and the latter rejecting it.

Speaking to a news agency, Mr Chavan said, “We have not received any concrete proposal from the Shiv Sena. We will not take a lead on it. But if a concrete proposal comes from the Sena, we will consider it and discuss it with the high command.”

The former Union minister said any proposal from the Sena must be for both the Congress and the NCP, which fought the October 21 polls together and ended up with 44 and 54 seats, respectively.

The 73-year-old Congress politician won from the Karad South constituency in the just-concluded assembly elections. Mr Thackeray is being projected as chief minister by the Shiv Sena.

He is the first from the Thackeray family to have contested the Assembly elections. The 29-year-old won with a thumping majority from Mumbai’s Worli constituency.

In the run-up to the polls, Mr Thackeray conducted several roadshows, foot marches and raised issues like cutting of trees in Aarey Colony and Mumbai's nightlife.

Several other parties are simply watching the fun or trying to add fuel to the fire. Whether Satyajeet’s post, which has since gone viral, is what it claims to be or an attempt to stir te-nsions, only time will tell.