NEW DELHI: Is “sulking” Eknath Shinde delaying the formation of BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra? Nine days after Mahayuti won a “Maha” mandate, there is still no end to the “Maha” suspense on the contours of the next government. For the second time in the last four days, a meeting of the Mahayuti leaders had to be cancelled on Monday due to the unavailability of caretaker chief minister Shinde, who was taking rest at his Thane residence as per doctor’s advice.
It was Shinde who had told reporters on Sunday that he and the two deputy CMs (BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis and NCP chief Ajit Pawar) would take forward the discussions on Monday on the chief minister’s post, distribution of portfolios and party-wise berths in the new Cabinet.
Shinde, Fadnvais and Ajit Pawar had held their first meeting in the national capital last week in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda but failed to reach a consensus on power-sharing agreement. The much-awaited second meeting of the Mahayuti leaders last Friday was put on hold after Shinde suddenly flew to his native village Dare in Satara district citing ill health.
Immediately after the Maha verdict, several Shiv Sena leaders orchestrated a campaign for continuance of Shinde as the next chief minister, despite BJP winning 132 seats on its own in the 288-member assembly. They even cited the Bihar model of Nitish Kumar to push their case for Shinde. Some Sena leaders even claimed that the BJP had promised to give Shinde the top job irrespective of the numbers.
It was four days after the Maha verdict that Eknath Shinde finally announced that he would not be an obstacle in government formation and hinted that he is also ready to quit the top post. However, Shiv Sena’s silence on his future role in the Mahayuti government since then has added to the suspense and led to speculations. Reports say Shiv Sena is insisting on the home portfolio which was with Fadnavis when he was the deputy chief minister under Shinde.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which is set to get its own chief minister in the state after a gap of five years, seems to be moving ahead with government formation. After announcing the oath-taking ceremony date two days back, the BJP today said that the next Mahayuti leader will be finalised on December 4, when the newly-elected party MLAs meet in the presence of central observers Nirmala Sitharaman and Vijay Rupani. While some BJP leaders have hinted at the return of Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister, the formal announcement will go down to the wire and will be made on the eve of oath-taking ceremony scheduled for December 5.
Fadnavis has the backing of Ajit Pawar, the third ally of the Mahayuti, who has taken away all the bargaining powers of the Shiv Sena. In the November 20 elections, the Mahayuti won 230 of the 288 assembly seats decimating the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi. The BJP led with 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena got 57 and NCP 41 seats.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde on Monday responded to the speculations of him becoming Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister and said that he “has no desire for a post of power”.
Shrikant in his X post refuted the claims of being in the race for any ministerial position in the state.” The swearing-in ceremony of the grand coalition government has been a bit delayed, and currently there is a lot of discussion and rumours. Caretaker chief minister Hon. Shri Eknath Shinde went to the village for two days and rested due to ill health. So the rumors flourished. The news that I will be the deputy chief minister has been given with question marks for the last two days. As a matter of fact there is no truth in it and all the news about my post as deputy chief minister is baseless and baseless,” Shrikant said.