New Delhi: With Maharashtra and Haryana going to the polls on Wednesday, the BJP is now looking at possible chief ministerial candidates if the party comes to power on its own in these two states.
While Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as the frontrunner in Maharashtra, Capt. Abhimanyu leads the race for CM in Haryana. Polling will begin at 7 am and end at 6 pm on Wednesday, while the counting of votes will be on Sunday, October 19.
Among other names doing the rounds in Maharashtra for the CM’s post are those of Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse and Sudhir Mungantiwar. Supporters of Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja are also mounting pressure on the party’s central leadership to consider her for the top job. In Haryana, close on the heels of Capt. Abhimanyu for the coveted post are Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh and BJP state unit chief Ram Bilas Sharma.
For Maharashtra, the BJP leadership had earlier wanted to project Union minister and former party chief Nitin Gadkari as CM candidate, but Mr Gadkari showed no interest. “I am not in the race for chief ministership as I am not interested in returning to state politics,” Mr Gadkari said in Nagpur on Tuesday afternoon.
