With election results just a day away, the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) seem to have jumped the gun in staking claims for the Chief Minister’s chair. Even before the first votes are counted, fissures have emerged within both alliances, with constituents already at odds over who should lead the next government.
The MVA with Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) and the Mahayuti, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, are both confident about forming the next Maharashtra government once the counting concludes on Saturday. Let’s have a look at who are the top contenders from each faction.
Shiv Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat was one of firsts to make comment on alliance’s CM face saying that the 2024 Assembly Elections was contested with current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at the forefront.
“Voters have shown their preference for Shinde through voting. I think it is Shinde’s right (to be the next CM) and we are confident that he will be the next CM,” PTI quoted Shirsat as saying.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Pravin Darekar has backed Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the party’s choice for the Chief Minister’s position. “I think if anyone from the BJP is becoming the CM then it will be Devendra Fadnavis,” he said.
“Whatever the results, the NCP will be the kingmaker,” NCP leader Amol Mitkari said while endorsing Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his party chief, as the contender for the Maharashtra CM’s post.
However, Fadnavis maintained that all three Mahayuti allies would come together to make a ‘well-thought-out decision.’
The BJP, contesting the highest number of seats in this election (152), is confident of emerging as the single-largest party. Throughout the campaign, while the Mahayuti alliance avoided naming a Chief Minister candidate, BJP hoardings prominently featured Devendra Fadnavis, who took the Deputy CM position in 2022.
In the Maha Vikas alliance Congress chief Nana Patole asserted claim of the Chief Ministerial chair, citing voting trends that suggest Congress will secure the most seats in the new assembly. However, later in the day, Patole backtracked, stating that the final decision on the CM post would be made by the party’s High Command.
The u-turn came after Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut criticized Patole’s statement, questioning whether he had the Congress High Command’s approval to make such a claim, as “no one else would accept it.”
Raut suggested that if Patole had indeed been chosen as the CM candidate by the Congress High Command, then party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should publicly announce it.
On the other hand, BJP leader Pravin Darekar dismissed Patole’s aspirations to become Chief Minister, calling them “Mungerilal ke haseen sapne” (mere daydreams).
(With PTI inputs)
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