Mahayuti partners huddle with home minister Amit Shah on Maharashtra govt contours | India News – Times of India

Amit Shah with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: A day after Eknath Shinde said he would accept the BJP leadership’s decision on who should be next Maharashtra CM, Mahayuti partners got down to working out details of the govt, which is likely to be formed on Dec 2. Home minister Amit Shah met three chiefs of the alliance — Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis & Ajit Pawar — Thursday evening.
BJP’s Fadnavis looked set to return as Mantralaya boss and the focus of talks at Shah’s residence was on devising ways to fit Shinde into his team as one of the two deputy CMs in a way where the pain of the loss of the top job was softened. Ajit Pawar is a certainty as the other deputy CM with finance portfolio.
BJP is set on rehabilitating Devendra Fadnavis, something that would “right the wrong” that was done to him when he was made to play second fiddle for the party’s sake. But it is equally desirous of Eknath Shinde joining the team as deputy chief minister in order to project the message of unity.
Although Shinde had said that he would abide by the choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, BJP wants him to feel valued. “Besides, having him on its side will also help the party minimise its reliance on Ajit dada,” a source reasoned.
While many argued that after serving as CM, becoming deputy CM may not be acceptable to Shinde, sources said this was not an issue in Maharashtra politics, and cited the example of Fadnavis as well as several others, including some veterans. They also dismissed suggestions that having two Marathas as deputies may not go down well with voters, pointing out that the outgoing leadership team also had two Marathas – Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
“I cleared my role in the press conference yesterday that there are no obstacles regarding CM of Mahayuti. This ‘ladla bhai’ has arrived in Delhi and the ‘ladla bhai’ is a designation higher than anything else for me. A meeting will be held on everything,” Shinde said, reiterating his position amid some of his party colleagues still staking a claim for the top post for their boss.
There is recognition of the need to appoint a BJP CM given that the party bagged 132 seats in the 288-member House, and has also got the support of five more MLAs, leaving it just eight short of the majority mark on its own.
As reported by TOI on the day election results were announced on Nov 23, Ajit Pawar has conveyed his support to Fadnavis, reducing the manoeuvring space for Shinde’s party. In any case, sources said the allies had jointly decided on seat allocation ahead of the polls and there was clear agreement on the issue.