Why BJP is betting big on Devendra Fadnavis as next Maharashtra CM

Days after the Mahayuti stormed to power in the assembly elections, suspense continues on who will the next chief minister of Maharashtra. 

Eknath Shinde, who resigend as chief minister on Tuesday, continues as caretaker chief minister until a new government is in place. The annoucement of next chief minister may take a few days, according to sources.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti won 230 seats in the 288-member assembly elections, the results of which was annoucned on Saturday, November 23. The results has unleashed pressure on alliance partners to take a call on who will be the chief minister — Shiv Sena (Shinde) chief Eknath Shindeor BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis.

A consensus has eluded the ruling combine’s leaders on who should be the next chief minister.

BJP firm on Fadnavis

The BJP in Maharashtra wanted Fadnavis to be the chief minister in June 2022 during political turmoil in Maharashtra, But the party’s top brass took a surprising decision and picked Eknath Shinde as the chief minister of Maharashtra, perhaps for making the alliance possible.

The decision came after Shinde, along with over 39 party lawmakers, rebelled and spearheaded a coup of sorts for Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray's MVA government.

The demand for making Fadnavis this time stems from the fact that the BJP, under Fadnavis, scripted its best-ever performance by winning 132 MLAs among Mahayuti’s 230. The Shinde Sena won 57 and Ajit Pawar’s NCP won 41 seats.

Fadnavis was in New Delhi on Monday night to attend the wedding of Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla's daughter. He did not, however, meet any BJP top brass leaders and flew back to Mumbai, according to sources.

The MLA's in Shinde Sena are reportedly asserting for a second term for Eknath Shinde since, they say, it was under his leadership that the Mahayuti alliance won the brute majority.

Bihar Model Ruled Out

Some leaders in Shinde camp have referred to Bihar model, where Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) is the cheif minister despite BJP having more MLAs. The BJP has, however, ruled out the option.

“The model applicable to Bihar does not hold true for Maharashtra. In Bihar, BJP had given a commitment to make Nitish Kumar the CM ahead of elections and honoured it. In Maharashtra, there is no reason for such a commitment as we have a stronger organisational base and leadership," BJP national spokesperson Prem Shukla told The Indian Express.

"Above all, the party never gave any commitment of continuing with Shinde as CM after the elections. On the contrary, the top leadership maintained throughout the elections that a decision on the chief minister would be based on the electoral outcome,” he said.

Even if BJP doesn’t count Shinde Sena’s 57 MLAs, it is comfortably placed to form the government with Ajit Pawar’s 41 MLAs. The majority mark in 288-member Maharashtra assembly is 145. Ajit Pawar has already announced to back Fadnavis as next chief minister of Maharashtra.

The party is expected to announce observers for Maharashtra soon. A meeting of BJP Legislature Party will be held in Mumbai in presence of observers to elect a leader.