NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule has said political rapprochement with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is not possible till he is aligned with the BJP and said she will not be a chief minister post aspirant if the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is voted to power.
In an exclusive interview with the news agency PTI, four-time Lok Sabha member Sule said people voted very assertively in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and there is clarity in the voters' minds now.
She feels the opposition MVA, comprising the NCP (SP), Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) will also do much better in the November 20 state assembly polls.
Out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the MVA won 30 seats, and an independent supporting the opposition alliance also emerged victorious.
Last year, Sule's cousin Ajit Pawar and several other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state, leading to a split in the party founded by her father Sharad Pawar.
In June 2022, Shinde had led a rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership, which led to a split in that party. Sule said, "It is hard to say whether Pawars can reunite with Ajit Pawar politically. As long as he is working for the BJP it will not be easy. Our ideologies still remain a challenge politically."
On speculations that she could be the MVA's CM face, she said, 'I am not contesting elections and the NCP (SP) has made it clear that we are not in the race for CM's post. We have clarity and we will go along with whoever our partners decide ."
Asked if the upcoming assembly polls will settle the fragmented polity in Maharashtra, the parliamentarian said the Lok Sabha election results have settled the confusion.
"There is already clarity in the state. There is no issue as such except that the legal fight continues because of the illegal way parties were broken, the illegal way they were given to people...the fight will continue," she said.
Sule denied there was any strategy to contest only 10 Lok Sabha seats. -- PTI