Will back any decision taken by Modi, Shah on CM: Eknath Shinde | Mumbai News
MUMBAI: Days after his Delhi meet with the BJP brass, caretaker CM Eknath Shinde has once again put the ball in BJP’s court on the Maharashtra CM‘s post.
Shinde, who returned to his Thane residence Sunday after spending two days under medical observation in his hometown in Satara due to a respiratory tract infection and viral fever, reiterated that any decision regarding Maharashtra’s CM taken by PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda would have his full support. He neither categorically stated that he was conceding the post to BJP nor said that he was still staking claim to the chair.
Shinde said BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, NCP’s Ajit Pawar, and he would meet soon and “a lot of issues regarding power sharing”, besides the CM’s post, will be resolved, and their decision will be “beneficial for Maharashtra”. The meeting may be held on Monday or Tuesday, said Sena functionaries.
When asked if his MP son, Shrikant, would be made deputy CM in the new Mahayuti govt, Shinde said that “talks were on”.
While BJP has announced that the new govt will be sworn in on Dec 5, but is yet to hold a meeting of its newly elected MLAs who, in turn, will elect the leader of the party in the legislature. With both Shiv Sena and NCP agreeing to a BJP CM, the BJP legislative party leader will be the CM. BJP’s legislative party meeting is likely to be held on Tuesday.
“Decision on election of new legislature party leader will be taken after appointment of central observers by the BJP leadership. We expect central observers to be appointed very soon,” BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule told TOI.
Meanwhile, PMO has confirmed that Modi will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Even as Mahayuti tries to put up a united front, with Shinde saying there are no differences within the alliance, Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil Sunday said if NCP was not in Mahayuti, Sena would have won 90-100 seats. “Sena contested a total of 85 seats. Of these, 57 of our candidates were elected. If Pawar had not been in Mahayuti, 90 to 100 MLAs of Shiv Sena would have been elected. When Pawar joined Mahayuti, our netas (Shinde) did not ask the seniors why they accepted him,” said Patil, a minister in the outgoing Mahayuti govt.
Earlier in the day, Shinde said in Satara: “There are no ifs and buts… There are no differences among Mahayuti parties… CM does not just stand for chief minister, it also stands for ‘common man’. In the state assembly elections, people gave us a large number of votes; therefore, we are answerable to them. What is important is what they will get in return from us, not what we will get.”
