Maharashtra election results: Kaun banega CM? BJP may push for Devendra Fadnavis | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: There is pure joy among the BJP over its victory in Maharashtra. However, his ally, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, may now have mixed feelings about the outcome because of the huge numbers the BJP has secured.
After the BJP’s best-ever performance in the western state, which saw the party miss out on a majority of 145 by just 13 seats, the leadership question appears to have been reopened amid indications that the party is keen to get back its tallest leader, Devendra Fadnavis want to put on the list. the rudder.
While senior figures like Union Minister Piyush Goyal stuck to the formula ‘the three parties will meet soon to decide the issue’, sources in the BJP acknowledged that the magnitude of the victory has prompted a rethink on the leadership issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s description of Devendra Fadnavis as “Param Mitra” (best friend) during the post-victory celebrations was also seen as a strong indication of this.

“We have more than double the number of Eknath Shinde. Our workers were disappointed when we got Fadnavis to agree to become the deputy of someone who had served under him as a minister. He agreed because of party discipline. Getting him to make the sacrifice again would be cruel,” said a senior BJP source.
A likely claim by BJP for the top position will be supported by Ajit Pawar, who may be more comfortable with a non-Maratha like Fadnavis being CM, rather than serving as a deputy to a fellow Maratha for another term.
The Shinde camp seemed to have noticed the signs of the BJP’s resurgent ambition and was outraged by it.
“Shinde led a government that made progress, helped MLAs improve their chances of re-election and launched the highly popular Ladki Bahin Yojana to change the atmosphere,” said a source close to the CMO in Mumbai. He also brought up Shinde’s role in bringing down the MVA government. “We were promised there would be no change in leadership,” the source said.
However, the outgoing Prime Minister does not have too many options due to the huge numbers of the BJP and the high probability of Ajit Pawar partnering with the latter on the leadership front. The small groups of Congress, NCP (SP) and Sena UBT are also likely to be prone to splits.