Who Will be Maharashtra’s Next CM? The Wait Continues

Mumbai: Suspense over who will be Maharashtra’s next chief minister continued on Monday, two days after the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti won a landslide victory in the assembly elections, shattering the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi’s dream to wrest power.

The formation of a new government in Maharashtra, which appeared likely immediately after the BJP-led coalition’s thumping victory, has been delayed due to Shiv Sena’s insistence that Eknath Shinde continue as the chief minister, sources said.

After the November 20 election results were out on Saturday, there was talk that Devendra Fadnavis, instrumental in getting his party the highest-ever seats in the assembly, would be sworn in, as early as Monday, but that has not happened, due to the Mahayuti leaders not reaching a consensus on who will be the next CM, the sources said.

There was speculation that Fadnavis, Shinde, and Ajit Pawar, who reached Delhi Monday to attend the marriage reception of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter, may meet BJP leaders in the national capital, to resolve the impasse on the CM’s post.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske cited the “Bihar model” to assert that Shinde should continue as the chief minister.

However, BJP MLC Pravin Darekar said Fadnavis is the most capable candidate to lead the state.

The Mahayuti coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, retained power by winning 230 of the 288 assembly seats in the just-concluded state polls, leaving the Aghadi with just 46 seats.

Amid the talk of Fadnavis becoming the CM for the third time, came statements of some Sena leaders that Shinde should continue as the landslide win was under his leadership as the CM.

The BJP, led by Fadnavis, won the highest-ever 132 seats for the party, while the Shiv Sena led by Shinde bagged 57 seats and NCP won 41 seats to take the Mahayuti total to 230 seats.

"We feel Shinde should be the chief minister, just like in Bihar where BJP did not look at the numbers but still made JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar the CM. Senior leaders of the Mahayuti (in Maharashtra) will ultimately take a decision," Mhaske told reporters on Monday.

Mhaske also compared the situation to the leadership dynamics in Haryana, where the BJP contested the assembly elections recently under Nayab Singh Saini's leadership.

The Ajit Pawar-led NCP is amenable to Fadnavis becoming the CM, the sources said, adding there is no likelihood of the BJP agreeing to Shinde having another go at the top post as not giving Fadnavis his due may demoralise the party cadre.

Fadnavis on Saturday denied any dispute over the CM's post, saying leaders of the Mahayuti will decide on the issue.

Meanwhile, a legislature official dismissed reports that the President’s Rule may come into force if a new government is not in place by November 26, when the tenure of the14th state assembly ends.

In fact, with election officials submitting copies of the gazette with names of the newly-elected members of the state legislative assembly to Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan on Sunday, the 15th assembly is already in place, an official said.

As per Section 73 of the Representation of the People Act, after submission of the notification about the members elected, it shall be deemed that the House has been duly constituted, the official said.

Fadnavis previously served as chief minister in 2014, completing a full five-year term while in coalition with the then-undivided Shiv Sena.

After the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP, under Fadnavis, briefly formed a government with Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as deputy chief minister. However, the government lasted only 80 hours, as Ajit Pawar pulled out to again be with his uncle, Sharad Pawar, the current NCP (SP) chief.

For the first time in six decades, there will be no leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly due to the inadequate number of MLAs in the opposition camp.

As per norms, a single party, and not a coalition, should have at least 10 per cent of the total strength of the assembly to stake claim to the House opposition leader’s post, an official said.

The maximum permissible limit for the Council of Ministers in Maharashtra is 43, including the CM. The BJP, which has 132 MLAs, is likely to keep almost half the ministerial berths for itself, sources said.

Senior leader of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP on Monday met Sharad Pawar in Mumbai. “I am a trustee of the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, and the meeting was in that connection,” he told reporters.

Sharad Pawar also met senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan at Karad in Satara district on Sunday, a day after the latter was defeated from his home turf of Karad South assembly constituency by BJP nominee Atul Bhosale.

Former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray was on Monday elected the Shiv Sena (UBT) legislature party leader at a meeting of the party legislators in Mumbai.

Seven-time legislator Bhaskar Jadhav was made the party's group leader in the assembly and Sunil Prabhu was retained as the chief whip.

Aaditya, son of party president Uddhav Thackeray, defeated Milind Deora of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the recent assembly elections from Worli constituency by 8,801 votes, a lower victory margin compared to 67,427 in the last elections in 2019.

In last week's polls, 20 Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates were elected as MLAs.