BJP-Sena tug-of-war for Maharashtra CM’s post ensues as prayers go up for Shinde’s return

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not yet initiated the process of announcing its choice of Maharashtra’s next chief minister, the Sena has put its foot in the door to stake its claim.

The tug of war between the two ruling parties grew even more intense after the Mahayuti’s third alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), extended its support to the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis for the post.

From invoking the Bihar model to organising prayers by women at various temples, the Shinde camp has been relentless in keeping the pressure on the BJP.

The Sena and NCP elected Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as leaders of their legislative parties, respectively, on Sunday, a day after the election results were announced. However, the BJP had not begun its process till Monday evening. The party was yet to appoint its central observers to hold a meeting with newly elected MLAs, to choose their leader, who would probably be the next chief minister. This has further fuelled speculation on which way the BJP will go – with Shinde or Fadnavis.

In the recently concluded elections, the BJP has emerged as the single-largest party, just short of the halfway mark. It won 132 seats in the 288-member assembly, and garnered the support of five Independents and MLAs from smaller parties. The Shiv Sena came in second, winning 57 seats and it enjoys the support of one Independent MLA, while the NCP bagged won 41 seats.

The NCP has unequivocally extended its support to Fadnavis for the top job. “Mahayuti’s landslide victory was the result of the hard work of three ruling parties. We are happy if Devendra Fadnavis becomes chief minister and we are part of the alliance,” said NCP leader and minister Anil Patil.

However, batting hard for Eknath Shinde is the Shiv Sena, whose leaders point out that Shinde did a stellar job of fighting the elections for the Mahayuti alliance and should be the natural choice for the top post. “He addressed 75 rallies across the state, the highest for any political party, even as BJP leaders avoided visiting some regions like Marathwada. The Ladki Bahin Yojna, which played a key role in the Mahayuti’s victory, was Shinde’s brainchild. And, even though the BJP is claiming that its ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ slogan helped steer the alliance towards a landslide victory, the narrative was limited to some urban areas,” said a Shinde camp leader. “Besides, he is a Maratha and it would make sense to allow him to continue as chief minister as the Maratha community is still on edge over the reservation issue,” he added.

The Sena is aggressively pushing the ‘Bihar formula’, where Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal-U) was made chief minister of Bihar even though he had fewer MLAs than the BJP. They have stated publicly that the BJP should adopt this formula in Maharashtra as well. Sena MP Naresh Mhaske said, “Making Shindesaheb the CM is the wish of the people of Maharashtra,” said Mhaske. He pointed out that the BJP recently contested the assembly elections in Haryana under the leadership of chief minister Nayab Sainik, who retained his post after the party won the elections.

Mhaske even took a leaf out of his rival’s book to drive home his point. He pointed out that Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut had been alleging that the BJP uses its allies and then tosses them aside after they serve their purpose. “It is time for the BJP to prove him wrong,” he remarked.

But the BJP was determined not to let the Sena get ahead of itself. BJP senior leader and legislator, Ram Shinde, was quick to rebut the Sena’s claim, claim saying the Bihar formula cannot be replicated. “It has happened once and there is no chance of its repetition. The top leadership of the three parties will take a call on this,” he said.