MUMBAI: Shiv Sena is keen on pitching Sharad Pawar as the non-BJP front’s candidate for the 2022 Presidential poll. Senior Sena strategist Sanjay Raut is working out the specifics of the plan, which, if accomplished, could alter the political scenario ahead of the next general elections.

“I think the numbers are on our side for the next Presidential poll,” Raut told TOI on Sunday, citing the rise in non-BJP-ruled states in recent years. State legislatures comprise the electoral college for the presidential poll.

Raut will soon go on a tour of non-BJP states, and hold parleys with chief ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) to test the viability of Pawar's candidature. “We've started working out the details. We'll have to first talk to Pawarsahab and seek his clearance. I don't think there will be any glitch,” Raut said. “Pawarsahab is the country's seniormost leader and is held in esteem as an elderly statesman. Given his vast administrative experience and political acumen he deserves to be India's constitutional head.

owes him this much.”

Raut owes a debt to the ageing warhorse, said observers, since his party is in power in the state primarily due to Pawar’s initiative. It was Pawar who is believed to have persuaded Sonia Gandhi to let Congress join Sena and NCP in for ming gover nment to keep BJP at bay. A possible presidential candidature for Pawar is a logical sequel to the change of regime in the state, observers said, as his role in dislodging BJP has added to his stature, brightening the hopes of anti-BJP parties across India.