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Saturday will mark a week since the Mahayuti won a resounding mandate in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, but despite the clear mandate, the big question about who will be chief minister remains unanswered. Until late Friday night, there was no clarity on what the contours of the new government might look like. To complicate matters, caretaker chief minister Eknath Shinde, known to be a workaholic, has left for his farmhouse in Satara.
Shiv Sena leaders close to the developments said that despite Shinde’s press briefing on Wednesday, where he announced he would go by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on the new chief minister, he is still bargaining hard for a better deal. A senior member of the Shiv Sena told HT, “If Shinde, under whose leadership the Mahayuti won so handsomely, is not coming back as chief minister, he should be given the home ministry.”
Also read: Will Eknath Shinde accept deputy CM post or join Narendra Modi’s cabinet? Shiv Sena leader says…
Shinde is also weighing the optics of returning to the new administration as deputy CM, according to Shiv Sena leaders. The party, which won 57 seats in the Assembly, has also told the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership that if Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has to be decimated, then the Mahayuti has to win the local body elections slated for early next year, especially the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, which have so far been the Thackeray family’s stronghold. And for this, the BJP must allow Shinde to lead the government in the new term, sources said.
After the BJP made clear its disinclination to give him the home ministry, Shinde, sources said, would like to become the convenor of the Mahayuti and also demanded the Speaker’s post for his party, which again, the BJP has refused. The party also turned down Shinde’s demand for a deputy chief minister’s position for his son Shrikant, a senior state BJP leader told HT.
But it is not Shinde alone who is delaying the new government formation. In the BJP too, several names are being floated for chief minister even though Devendra Fadnavis remains a clear favourite. The uncertainty for CM in Maharashtra is reminiscent of what happened in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 when Yogi Adityanath was named as CM after two weeks of hectic parleying.
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“The mandate is dominantly in favour of the Mahayuti, but it also carries the baggage of expectations from within the alliance. The show of resistance by Shinde in the last days could be the beginning of what the next five years may look like,” said political analyst Pratap Asbe.
Since the announcement of the Mahayuti’s landslide win on Saturday, Modi has spoken to Shinde independently, while Union home minister Amit Shah met him, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in Delhi on Thursday night. Shinde also met Shah independently, where it was conveyed to him that his party would neither be given home ministry nor the Speaker’s post. “The BJP, in fact, is even keen to keep finance, but the NCP has made a claim on that,” said a senior BJP leader.
The BJP leadership has offered the deputy chief minister’s post to Shinde and also made clear the broad structure of the power-sharing pact, leaving the three state leaders to finesse the details. However, Shinde reached Mumbai and left for his village in Satara, leading to the cancellation of the meeting between him, Fadnavis and Pawar.
According to his aides, Shinde was initially unwilling to work under Fadnavis but later agreed, provided he got the home department. “Observers appointed by central leadership are expected to arrive in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon after the Amavasya ends for the selection of the legislative party leader who would be the next chief minister. The legislative party leader would stake claim to form the government by visiting Raj Bhavan after it,” said a senior BJP leader.
Also read: Maharashtra CM deal sealed? Eknath Shinde’s ‘positive’ reaction after meeting Amit Shah
The meeting between Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar will be held on Sunday to finalise the names from the three parties for their induction in the cabinet. The swearing-in is likely to take place on December 5 at Azad Maidan. But the BJP’s top leadership has still not signalled that Fadnavis will be the choice of chief minister. Names of Pune MP Murlidhar Mohol and Chandrakant Patil were added to the mix on Friday, leading to further speculation and uncertainty. “A landslide win, yes, but no decision on the CM even a week later demonstrates the true power of smaller allies,” said a Shiv Sena leader.
Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar insisted that the time taken for the formation of the government is not unusual. “If you look at the time taken for the formation of the government after the results since 2004, the time taken by Mahayuti is not unusual. All the previous governments have taken at least 15 days for the formation. And in Maharashtra, too, it will come into existence very soon.”
Shiv Sena lawmaker Bharat Gogawale, who met Shinde before he left for Satara, said the Mahayuti talks had been postponed on account of Amavasya over the weekend as it was not an auspicious time for government formation talks. “Also, he is unwell; he has a cold and fever.” Former MP and senior Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar said negotiations were also on for a central berth for Shrikant Shinde. “He (Shinde) must send his son Shrikant Shinde to Delhi as he is well educated and experienced.”
Senior state BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar scotched speculation that the BJP might get a relative novice to head the government in Maharashtra as it did in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. “We have 165 of 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh and 156 of 182 seats in Gujarat, giving us room for the experiments in those states. In Maharashtra, it will be a coalition government with stalwart leaders as deputy chief ministers and, therefore, there cannot be an experiment in such a scenario. Leaders like Devendraji will be the appropriate choice for the CM’s position,” he said.
