The stalemate over the Mahayuti’s pick for Chief Minister entered its fourth day on Wednesday with no clarity yet on whom the winning alliance has chosen to head the government. While the Shiv Sena has pitched for a second term for outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Bharatiya Janata Party is learnt to have made up its mind to install Devendra Fadnavis on the top post.
On Tuesday, Eknath Shinde met Governor CP Radhakrishnan and resigned as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He was accompanied by Shinde and Fadnavis who have also resigned from their posts as Deputy Chief Ministers. The development came on the last day of the outgoing Assembly on November 26. Shinde has been asked by the Governor to continue as the caretaker CM till the new government takes charge.
The election results declared on Saturday showed the BJP emerging victorious on 132 of the 149 seats it contested. The Shiv Sena (Shinde) bagged 57 of the 80 seats contested while the Nationalist Congress Party of Ajit Pawar bagged 41 of the 59 seats it fielded its candidates on. Cumulatively, the Mahayuti registered the best electoral performance by any pre-poll alliance in the last five decades.
However, the delay in the announcement of the Chief Minister by the Mahayuti has now slowly begun to eclipse the mammoth victory registered by the alliance and also led to concerns over whether the NDA could be heading the same way it did in 2019 when the BJP-Shiv Sena (undivided) failed to form a government despite winning a majority in the Assembly.
However, the BJP and Shiv Sena maintain that there is no dispute on the question of leadership and the alliance will form a government without much delay. On its part, the BJP is learnt to have conveyed to the Shiv Sena as well as the NCP about its decision to appoint Fadnavis as the next Chief Minister.
The BJP leadership is also reported to be miffed over the Shiv Sena’s insistence on continuing Shinde as the Chief Minister. The BJP has claimed on record that there was no pre-poll arrangement with the Shiv Sena regarding Shinde’s continuation as chief minister.
BJP national spokesperson Prem Shukla said that the party’s top leadership maintained all through the elections that a decision on the CM would be based on the election results and the performance of each party individually.
He also dismissed a suggestion by Shiv Sena’s Naresh Mhaske, who cited the Bihar model to pitch for Shinde’s continuation as CM, stating that in Bihar, the BJP had committed to make Nitish the Chief Minister ahead of elections and honoured it.
"In Maharashtra, there is no reason for such a commitment as we have a stronger organisational base and leadership. Above all, the party never gave any commitment of continuing with Shinde as CM after the elections," Shukla told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as well as NCP president Ajit Pawar have lent their weight to Fadnavis' candidature as the new chief minister.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
