It has been more than a week since the results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were announced. The ruling alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) has achieved tremendous success by winning 230 out of 288 seats but has not yet been able to make the Chief Minister. Now BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new cabinet will be held on December 5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present in it. The election results were announced on November 23 and it will be 12 days until December 5. Earlier it was being said that Eknath Shinde’s party is adamant on making him the Chief Minister, because it is because of his way of working that the alliance has achieved such a big success. The leaders of the BJP, which won 132 seats, which needs only 13 seats to form a majority on its own, say that the Chief Minister should be from the BJP. The name of Devendra Fadnavis is at the forefront of the news so far, who has been the Chief Minister twice and was forced to become the Deputy Chief Minister to form a coalition government with the help of Eknath Shinde after overthrowing the Uddhav Thackeray government.
When there was no consensus in Mumbai on the name of the Chief Minister, the three leaders had separate meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi last Thursday. After this, the three returned to Mumbai at night and were to meet again the next day, Friday. But Shinde suddenly went to his village in Satara district. He was expected to return on Saturday, but now it is being said that he will return late due to his sore throat. There are also reports that he has met the leader of Sharad Pawar’s party in the village. The central leadership of the BJP has offered to make Shinde the Deputy Chief Minister or a minister at the center, but Shinde is not willing to go to Delhi.
Now under pressure from the BJP, Maharashtra’s caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the BJP will take the decision on the new Chief Minister of the state and he will fully support it. He had said that there is no difference among the alliance partners regarding government formation. Talks on government formation are going on and all decisions will be taken with the consent of all the three alliance partners Shiv Sena, BJP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
BJP leader Raosaheb Danve said that the name of the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra has been decided and confirmation from the party’s senior leadership is awaited.
It is famous about the Modi-Shah duo that in states where it takes more than 72 hours to become the Chief Minister, they give a chance only to new faces. They even bring down their friends who raise their heads before them. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha, there was a delay in electing the Chief Minister and new faces were put on the chair everywhere. In 2017, names like Keshav Prasad Maurya and Manoj Sinha were discussed in UP, but after 9 days, Yogi Adityanath was declared the Chief Minister.
In fact, Fadnavis is the choice of the RSS and the Modi-Shah duo is happy only to make the Chief Minister of their choice instead of the choice of the RSS. After Brahmin Fadnavis, the names of Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde, state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Union Minister Muralidhar Mohol are also being discussed. Tawde is close to Shah and comes from the Maratha community, which has a big influence in the politics of Maharashtra. Pankaja is from OBC and now BJP has got huge support from women in Maharashtra. Muralidhar Mohol’s name is being mentioned at the top. He became MP for the first time from Pune and was made a cabinet minister in the Centre. He was the mayor of Pune for many years.
