New Delhi: The projection of a chief ministerial candidate has become a ticklish issue for the ruling Congress-NCP and the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the coming Maharashtra Assembly polls.
While the NCP and the BJP are refusing to become a junior partner of the Congress and the Shiv Sena in their respective fronts after the Lok Sabha elections, the MNS and other regional parties will have a limited role to play in the electoral battle.
The BJP would love to project its chief ministerial candidates before the polls as was seen in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, and Goa. But the saffron party has not yet succeeded in projecting its CM candidate in Maharashtra due to the Shiv Sena, its oldest ideological ally.
The BJP may be the main Opposition in the Assembly but it has been contesting fewer number of seats than the Shiv Sena in the state polls. Now, it wants to review the current seat-sharing arrangement.
Interestingly, the Congress and the NCP have been fighting the state polls without projecting a CM candidate. The Congress cannot project its CM candidate before the polls after realising that would lead to factional fights within the party. The NCP has been a strong contender for the post. If the incumbent CM Prathviraj Chavan gives a hint of geting a second term, then the NCP may not lag behind in staking the claim to the top post.
