‘Tough call to select PM candidate of INDIA bloc’
Those who wanted to defect have quit the party, no more left, says Maharashtra Cong. Lok Sabha poll campaign panel chief
the vote. Obviously, it is being funded and supported by the ruling party. This is what it has been doing for a long time. Last time, it succeeded because of an alliance with AIMIM, and about 7-8 seats of ours were a¡ected. This time, it will not happen.
There have been Congress leaders who left the party to join rival parties.
There are three types of people: one who have been given a Rajya Sabha seat such as Milind Deora and Ashok Chavan, those who are facing serious enquiries, like Ajit Pawar and Ashok Chavan, and those seeking money. How much can they give? It’s causing a lot of tension within the BJP itself. Whatever defections had to happen, have happened. No more left.
Didn’t INDIA bloc take too long to decide on seat sharing?
I think INDIA bloc in di¡erent States have done di¡erently. In Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar it happened quickly. Maharashtra took a little longer.
MVA hasn’t given a ticket to even a single Muslim candidate.
That’s ne, we had to eld a winning candidate. The people who decide are in the election committee in Delhi, and the leadership in Maharashtra. They have decided the seats and who should contest from where. Shiv Sena (UBT) was not expected to give any Muslim candidate an opportunity, the Congress and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) were contemplating, but it didn’t pan out that way.
Who are the Prime Ministerial candidates from the INDIA bloc?
Ours is a British parliamentary kind of a system, where two parties ght and the party getting more MPs will select their candidate after elections. Having a face for the general election is precisely what Narendra Modi is trying to do, we are not going to fall into that trap. This is going to be like the 1977 election. It is about winning the Lok Sabha seat in each of the constituencies. When we get more seats, we will sit down and elect the PM candidate. There always are tough calls, it will happen again.