Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that he will support the candidate selected by allies Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) for the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra, The Hindu reported.

The three parties are part of the state’s Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, where Assembly polls are expected to take place within the next three months. The parties are also members of the INDIA bloc at the national level.

On Friday, Thackeray said that the chief ministerial candidate should be decided first instead of selecting an individual after waiting to see which party wins more seats in the election.

The former chief minister made the remarks at a joint meeting of party workers of the Opposition alliance. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar and Congress’ state unit President Nana Patole were also present in the meeting.

“I will support any candidate chosen by the Congress and NCP(SP) as the CM candidate for MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi],” The Hindu quoted Thackeray as saying.

“This isn’t about me,” he said. “It’s about fighting for Maharashtra’s rights.”

Thackeray urged the constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi to set aside personal ambitions to protect the pride and interests of the state.

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader added that the Assembly polls will be a battle to safeguard Maharashtra’s self-respect, unlike the recent Lok Sabha elections that were about saving democracy and the Constitution.

In the general elections, the Thackeray Sena won nine seats in the state. While the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party won eight, the Congress emerged as the largest party in the state with 13 seats. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha constituencies.

In contrast, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction won seven seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party won nine seats and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group managed to win one seat.

The three parties are constituents of the state’s ruling Mahayuti alliance and members of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.

Overall, the BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats, a significant dip from its tally of 303 seats in 2019. As it fell short of the majority mark of 272 seats, it had to depend on its coalition partners in the NDA to form the government.

‘Why was Waqf bill not passed when BJP had absolute majority?’

On Friday, Thackeray also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government over the introduction of the contentious 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill, asking why it was not passed when the BJP had a majority in Parliament during the previous Lok Sabha term, PTI reported.

“Why did you bring the Waqf bill to wedge the divide between us?” Thackeray asked. “And if you had to bring it, why did you not do it when you had the majority?”

On August 8, the bill was sent to a joint parliamentary committee for scrutiny amid objections from the Opposition after the draft legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha. It proposed to amend 44 sections of the Waqf Act 1995.

A waqf is a property given for a religious, educational or charitable cause by Muslims. In India, waqfs are governed under the Waqf Act. Each state has a Waqf Board led by a legal entity, who is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer a property. The Act was last amended in 2013.

Followings its introduction in the Lower House, several Opposition MPs objected to the bill, calling it “anti-Muslim” and “unconstitutional”. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had been criticised for not stating its views about the bill.

Thackeray on Friday said that his party MPs were not in Parliament when the bill was introduced. “If it was going to be discussed, our MPs would have taken part in it,” PTI quoted him as saying.

He added: “If you are going to steal Waqf Board land and give it to your industrialist friends, just like you are taking away land from our Hindu temples and giving it to your contractor friends, we will not allow any wrongdoing.”

On the objections to the bill, Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had said on August 8 that it did not intend to interfere with the freedom of any religious body. He said that no provision of the Constitution had been violated.

Rijiju said that amendments were planned because the Waqf Act 1995 had not served its purpose.

Features of the proposed amendment included the addition of non-Muslims in Waqf boards, ensuring the verification of land before a board announces it as a Waqf property, and requirements for the funds received by the boards to be used for the welfare of widows, divorcees and orphans as suggested by the government.