Mumbai: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and the NCP alliance emerging victorious in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls, the question that arises is that who will be the state’s next Chief Minister?
Speculation is rife on whether Eknath Shinde will retain the post or his deputy Devendra Fadnavis will become the CM. The debate over this significant political decision has intensified. The debate has also sparked discussions and analyses across political and public circles. Amid such uncertainties, a high-stakes meeting is scheduled to take place on Sunday. The meeting will bring together the key stakeholders of the NDA alliance in Maharashtra, reports claimed.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis have answered the crucial question: ‘Who will be the next CM of the state?’ Eknath Shinde said, “Let the final results come in…Then, in the same way as we fought elections together, all three parties will sit together and take a decision.”
To the same question, Fadnavis had replied that the three parties would sit together and decide.
“We have secured an unprecedented victory. It was a tsunami of a different kind, and the entire opposition has almost been wiped out, but there is no race for the CM’s post. It was decided from day one that after the elections, the leaders of the three parties will sit together and decide on this. The decision will be acceptable to everyone, there is no dispute on this,” he told the media.
But, Fadnavis’ response comes amid reports of fissures within the ruling Mahayuti—an alliance of Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar camp of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On Friday, Shiv Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat reportedly said the assembly elections were contested with Shinde as the face. “Voters have shown their preference for Shinde through voting. I think it is Shinde’s right (to be the next CM) and we are confident that he will be the next CM,” Shirsat said, as quoted by the India Today.
BJP leader Pravin Darekar, meanwhile, batted for Fadnavis for the top post.
Results for the Maharashtra assembly elections were announced on Saturday with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance winning 233 of the 288 Assembly seats while the opposition MVA was reduced to only 50 seats. All Mahayuti ministers contesting in Maharashtra won their seats. Among the winning candidates are 21 women, with only one representing the opposition.
The alliance is likely to form government on November 25, before the tenure of 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly ends on November 26.
