Race for CM Post Starts in Mahayuti

 Mumbai: After an unprecedented victory in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha polls, the race to occupy the most coveted chief minister’s post has intensified. With all three parties of the ruling Mahayuti coalition recording strong shows, their supporters are openly harbouring the wish of their party heads leading the state.

The MVA coalition, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, contested the Vidhan Sabha polls under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. In the polls, Shinde Sena performed exceptionally by winning 58 seats. However, the BJP put up a much greater show by winning as many as 137 seats, whereas Ajit Pawar’s NCP won 41 seats.

Having served as Maharashtra’s CM from 2014 to 2019, Fadnavis is seen as the most prominent candidate within the BJP to lead the next government and the party supporters have already started rooting for him as the next CM. As the BJP has emered as the single largest party with a huge margin, many in the party feel that Fadnavis should lead the next government. Senior BJP leader Pravin Darekar said that Fadnavis will be our chief minister.

Fadnavis’ mother, Sarita Fadnavis too said her son is a ‘favourite’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everyone in the BJP wants him to become the next chief minister of Maharashtra.

“Everyone in the party wants him to become the next chief minister. It is evident that others also wish that he takes on that role. He is indeed a favourite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who regards him as a son,” she said.

In this context, it would be interesting to see if the incumbent CM Shinde would relinquish the top post to Fadnavis. Shinde-led Sena MP Naresh Mhaske said, “The Mahayuti has achieved this stupendous win under the leadership of Shinde Saheb. The people of Maharashtra have also made it clear that Eknath Shinde is the rightful leader of the Shiv Sena founded by Hindu Hridaya Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray.”

On the other hand, the supporters of Ajit Pawar have also started pitching him as the next CM candidate. His wife Sunetra Pawar said, “Who wouldn’t want to see their leader in such a top post? This isn’t just our wish, it’s the people’s wish to see him (Ajit Pawar) in some high position.”

However, CM Shinde has maintained that the decision will be made collectively. “This is the victory of our team. Once all the numbers are in, we will sit together and decide on the CM post,” Shinde said, signalling that the alliance partners will have a say in the final choice.

Fadnavis too said that the decision on the next chief minister would be taken by the alliance members through mutual agreement. He said, “There will be no dispute on the chief minister's face. It was decided from day one that after the elections, the leaders of the three ally parties will sit together and decide on this, which will be acceptable to everyone.”

According to political observers, with the BJP far ahead of them, Shinde and Pawar are not in a position to bargain hard with the saffron party. If the BJP decides to assert its claim on the top post, they will have no choice to accede to the demand.

However, an insider in the Mahayuti said that Shinde is likely to continue as chief minister as the BJP central leadership wants to finish the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena in the state. “In coming days, the BJP highcommand wants to win all the corporation bodies by putting Shinde-led Shiv Sena against Shiv Sena (UBT) in order to stop the financial support of the latter. Apart from this, the party will also give a message to its alliance partners across the country that the CM’s post is not more significant for them than a loyal alliance partner,” he said.

In other scenario, while Fadnavis is the natural choice for the CM’s position, the BJP ledership might also consider another leader for the top post, he added. “The BJP leadership is known for taking surprising decisions. If the party wants to give the top job to someone other than Fadnavis, it would be an OBC leader,” they said.