Congress to lead opposition in Maharashtra, will fight 2024 polls as part of MVA: Ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said his party will lead the opposition in Maharashtra following the recent split in the NCP and would contest the Lok Sabha polls next year as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. In an interview with PTI, he also expressed confidence that there will be no split in the Congress as had been witnessed with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Chavan said that at the national level, the opposition alliance was taking shape on the lines of the principle adopted by the then opposition under J P Narayan to defeat Indira Gandhi in 1977.

«He (Narayan) defeated us (Congress) but the principle remains. He forged a broad-based alliance of opposition parties who were opposed to Indira Gandhi. They did not fight about who will lead the alliance.

Mr J P Narain led the alliance but he was not the PM candidate,» Chavan said. The opposition alliance that is being shaped up now is going in that direction, he said. «If we adopt this strategy and set aside the issue of the prime ministerial face considering that our first objective is to defeat the BJP, saving democracy and Constitution, we can do this,» the Congress leader said.

Chavan said that it is «our endeavour that the opposition fields a joint candidate against the BJP and the fight throughout the country is one-against-one in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls». Talking about the fast-paced developments in Maharashtra politics and whether the Congress would take the lead of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Chavan said there have been two major splits in two major components of the MVA — the Shiv Sena and the NCP — and after that, the Congress has emerged as the largest constituent of the coalition. «The Congress will naturally take