New Delhi: The scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s success in Maharashtra has transformed the BJP central leadership’s outlook on the question of who will be the state CM, with the party looking inclined towards putting Devendra Fadnavis on the hot seat.
The BJP won 132 of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra—just 12 short of securing a majority. Mahayuti partners Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena won 57 seats and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party 41 seats. Under the leadership of Fadnavis, the BJP this election broke its record of winning 122 seats in the 2014 Maharashtra assembly election.
Faced with a choice between sticking to coalition dharma by endorsing Eknath Shinde as CM despite a bigger mandate or fulfilling its ambition of installing Fadnavis as CM, the BJP is not rushing the decision. Unlike its coalition partners, the party has, so far, not named its legislative assembly leader or a central observer to elect the leader.
Union minister Amit Shah is meeting Sena and NCP leaders in New Delhi to take a call on the next CM. Fadnavis is also scheduled to meet him on Monday night.
A senior BJP functionary in Maharashtra said, “Politics run on changing political situations. In 2022, when Shinde was made CM with 40 MLAs, it was entirely different. Fadnavis was asked to make a sacrifice. The bigger aim was to dethrone Maha Vikas Aghadi from power.”
“At the time, without empowering Shinde, forming a government was not possible. Today, how will you justify to the cadres that the party with almost the majority will play second fiddle? Making Fadnavis the deputy CM or sending him to the Centre will not send the right message to the cadres. From the governance point of view, the largest party should be at the helm of affairs,” he said.
“However, it all depends on how the high command looks to maintain the balance in Maharashtra and the Centre as Shinde is also a partner at the Centre. The BJP does not want to send the message that it is power-hungry. The question is between choosing coalition dharma or fulfilling BJP’s ambition of its own CM in Maharashtra. However, Fadnavis’s candidature is much much stronger than Shinde’s,” he added.
On Saturday, Fadnavis reflected this confusion within the BJP when questioned about the CM’s face at the chief minister’s official residence at Varsha in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill.
“Amit Shah has clearly said the decision on the CM’s post would not hinge on any formula. The party leadership will take a call after discussions with the leaders of our alliance parties,” he told the media.
During BJP’s election campaign, the party maintained the position that it wanted to have its own CM face in the 2029 assembly election. When Shah met leaders of the Konkan region for a review meeting in Mumbai in October, he boosted the cadres’ morale by insisting on a “shatpratishat (100 percent) BJP government by 2029”. According to party members, Shah indicated that the BJP should aim to establish its government in the state by 2029, but the scale of success in the 2024 election has changed the entire dynamics.
The BJP cadre and MLAs are building pressure on the leadership for Fadnavis to take the CM chair. Moreover, Ajit Pawar’s NCP supports Fadnavis’s claim to the top post. For Pawar, consolidation of Maratha voters behind Shinde is not the best proposition.
On Sunday, an NCP spokesperson told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity that the NCP ”has conveyed its preferences to the BJP leadership for the chief minister’s post, and it is Devendra Fadnavis”. On the same day, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, “NCP has no objection if Fadnavis becomes CM.”
However, Ajit Pawar said on Monday, “I have been elected as leader of the party (in legislative assembly). Shiv Sena elected Eknath Shinde as its party leader. Now, the BJP must decide its leader. After that, all three of us will hold a meeting and discuss which of our colleagues can ensure a stable government.”
On the other hand, Shiv Sena is pressuring the BJP leadership to stick to coalition dharma. Shiv Sena leaders say leadership does not depend on a numerical formula, with Shinde’s leadership ensuring the Mahayuti victory. A large poster crediting Shinde surfaced in the state after the results.
Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar, who met Shinde at his home after a party meeting on Monday, said, “Shiv Sena MLAs feel Shinde should continue in the CM post because, under his leadership, Mahayuti worked very well and performed spectacularly.”
Contrastingly, BJP MP Hemant Vishnu Savara told ThePrint, “Cadres want Fadnavis as CM—he has scripted the victory in the state. We have 132 MLAs. If not now, we will get our CM at what mandate? The Centre will take a decision, knowing these sentiments of the cadres.”
Also Read: In Maharashtra, both national parties set records—BJP its best ever tally, Congress its worst ever
Shiv Sena’s hard bargain
As Shiv Sena bargains hard and builds pressure on the BJP to give the CM post to Shinde, the BJP is taking its sweet time to resolve the question as the leadership has various considerations before the decision.
One of the central BJP leaders said on the condition of anonymity, “There is no denying that Shinde has established himself as the people’s leader, working during wee hours. His grassroots connection has helped the Mahayuti, reflecting in the election results. He not only established his appeal among Marathas but also urban voters as a Maratha leader when Uddhav and Sharad Pawar have held that position for long. BJP needs a strong Maratha leader in the state to achieve a balance of power among the Marathas and OBCs. Shinde will also help the alliance in the upcoming BMC polls, enabling BJP to consolidate its grip in the richest civic body.”
One of the Sena sources told ThePrint that Shinde is in touch with Maha Vikas Aghadi MLAs to increase his chances of securing the top post, but it all depends on Amit Shah’s meeting.
Shiv Sena’s Thane MP Naresh Ganpat told ThePrint, “All alliance partners fought the election under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. He was the face, and Mahayuti got a landslide victory under his leadership. In Bihar, the BJP, despite winning more seats than Nitish Kumar, made him the CM. It should implement the same formula in Maharashtra. The ‘ladki-behin‘ scheme, which changed the entire dynamics, was a Shinde idea.”
However, a BJP leader said, “Bihar was a different ball game. The BJP did not get an edge in the alliance despite emerging as the number one party, and the BJP, without the alliance, suffered in the 2015 Bihar polls. Considering caste coalitions, the BJP does not have majority support in Bihar, unlike in Maharashtra, where the party has had its CM from 2014 to 2019. Even without an alliance with Shiv Sena, BJP got a 122-seat mandate in 2014. So, the Bihar and Maharashtra situations are not similar.”
BJP’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), also favours Fadnavis taking charge as CM. Fadnavis has a large support base within the RSS.
The central BJP leader said that Fadnavis established himself as a leader within five months of the Lok Sabha setback, turning around the story.
“He proved an astute politician, with a modern vision for development of infrastructure in his last tenure as chief minister. Besides ‘ladki-behin‘, the consolidation of Hindutva forces helped Mahayuti. So, the RSS viewpoint will matter too,” the leader said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
