Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said that he will support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on who Maharashtra’s next chief minister should be.
Shinde, who is currently the state’s caretaker chief minister, said that he, along with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis and the Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar, will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the formation of the state’s next government.
Shinde’s comments aimed to address the suspense around the chief minister’s role after the victory of the Mahayuti alliance – comprising the BJP, the Shiv Sena group led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Ajit Pawar – in the Assembly elections in the state on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Shinde said that he had left the decision about the chief minister’s post to Modi.
“I told PM [prime minister] Modi, as the leader of NDA [National Democratic Alliance], you take the decision…Whatever decision you take will be final,” Shinde said. “I told PM Modi, Amit Shah that they should not see me as a hindrance. I will stand by any decision that is taken by them.”
The Mahayuti alliance won 230 out of 288 seats in the state’s Assembly. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 132 seats. The Shinde Sena won in 57 seats and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party won in 41 constituencies.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi – comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress – won just 46 seats.
Following the results on Saturday, Fadnavis attempted to dispel rumours of a dispute in the ruling alliance about the chief minister’s post, saying that the coalition would decide on it together.
For the first time in six decades, the Maharashtra Assembly will not have a Leader of Opposition, as no Opposition party won the minimum of 28 seats needed for it.
The Uddhav Sena won 21 seats, the Congress won 16 and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party emerged victorious in 10 constituencies.
Also read: Cash transfers, caste calculus: What was behind the Mahayuti’s sweep in Maharashtra?
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