Mumbai: Eight days after the Mahayuti won the Maharashtra Assembly elections in resounding fashion with more than three-fourths majority, we still don’t know who will be the next chief minister.
BJP being the biggest contributor with 132 seats, the saffron party wants Devendra Fadnavis to head the state government. Though it sounded to be a logical demand, given that the other partners Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) won no more than 57 and 41 seats, respectively, it has obviously not been a clear-cut decision. Primarily because outgoing CM Eknath Shinde had a lot of support from his supporters.
A Mahayuti meeting was scheduled two days ago to resolve the impasse, but Shinde left for his native village, leading to fresh speculations of a rift within the alliance.
However, Shinde said that the Maharashtra chief ministerial candidate will be decided on Monday and reaffirmed his “unconditional support” to the BJP’s top leadership.
Shinde, who is serving as caretaker chief minister for now, also clarified that he had gone to his village in Satara to rest after a hectic election schedule and had fallen ill.
“I am doing good now. I had come here to rest after the hectic election schedule… I did not take any leave during my 2.5 years as the CM. People are still here to meet me. This is why I fell ill… This government will listen to the people,” Shinde told reporters.
The Mahayuti government’s oath-taking ceremony will reportedly take place at Azad Maidan on December 5, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It seems Shinde is reconciled to the reality that Fadnavis will replace him as the CM.
On Saturday, NCP chief Ajit Pawar seemed to have spilled the beans by saying that the chief ministerial face will be from the BJP, while two deputy CMs will be from Shiv Sena and his party.
