NEW DELHI: Amid suspense over the Maharashtra chief minister post and government formation, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat on Friday said that the deputy chief minister post will go to someone else in the party if Eknath Shinde doesn’t accept the post.
Shirsat, however, asserted that Shinde will certainly not seek a berth in the Centre.
“If Shinde does not accept the deputy CM’s post, then some other leader from our party will get it,” Shirsat said.
“We will take a decision (on Maharashtra CM) in a day or two. We have held discussions, and the discussions will continue. You will get to know when we take a final decision,” he added.
This comes after Shinde, BJP leader Devendra FadnavisNCP chief Ajit Pawar and other Mahayuti leaders met Union minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in Delhi on Thursday night.
Earlier, Shinde asserted that there were no obstacles regarding the post of chief minister and he would accept any decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I cleared my role in the press conference that there are no obstacles regarding the chief minister of Mahayuti. This ‘ladla bhai’ has arrived in Delhi and the ‘ladla bhai’ is a designation higher than anything else for me,” Shinde said as he arrived in Delhi.
“I have told the Prime Minister that if my presence creates any obstacle in forming the government in Maharashtra, there should be no hesitation in making a decision. Whatever decision you take will be acceptable to me,” he added.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis also said that the Mahayuti alliance had no internal differences and that a decision on the CM post would be made soon after consulting the leaders.
Speaking to the media, Fadnavis said, “In our Mahayuti alliance, there has never been a difference of opinion. We have always made decisions collectively. Before the elections, we announced that the decision regarding the Chief Minister’s post would be taken collectively after the results.”
“A few people had doubts, but Eknath Shinde ji has clarified those today. We will soon meet our leaders and finalise the decision,” he added.
The Shiv Sena, which won 57 seats in the just-concluded assembly elections, has been pushing for continuity at the top stressing that it was Shinde as chief minister who led the coalition and helped it win such a massive mandate. The party has also cited some exit poll surveys to claim that Shinde is the most popular leader for the top job.
However, the BJP, which scripted its best-ever performance in Maharashtra winning 132 seats, only 13 less than a simple majority in the 288-member assembly, is firm that its leader Devendra Fadnavis will be the next chief minister of the state.
In 2022, when the BJP joined hands with the Shinde Sena after the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, Eknath was made the chief minister and Fadnavis was asked to work as his deputy in a surprising move. After a strong performance in the assembly elections, the Shiv Sena wants this arrangement to continue irrespective of the numbers.
Some Sena leaders have also cited the Bihar model to justify their demand. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar is the chief minister of NDA government despite his party JD(U) having less number of seats than the BJP.
