NEW DELHI: There is unalloyed joy in BJP over the Maharashtra victory. However, its ally, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, may now have mixed feelings over the result because of the sheer numbers raked in by BJP.
After BJP’s best-ever performance in the western state, with the party missing the majority mark of 145 by just 13 seats, the leadership question appears to have been re-opened amid indications that it may like to put its tallest leader Devendra Fadnavis back at the helm.
While senior figures like Union minister Piyush Goyal stuck to the formulaic “the three parties will soon sit together to decide the issue”, sources in BJP acknowledged that the magnitude of its win has prompted a re-think over the leadership question.
PM Narendra Modi’s description of Devendra Fadnavis as “Param Mitra” (best friend) in the post-victory celebration was also seen as a strong pointer to that.
“We have more than double Eknath Shinde’s numbers. Our workers were disappointed when we made Fadnavis to agree to be deputy to somebody who had served as a minister under him. He agreed because of party discipline. Getting him to make the sacrifice yet again would be cruel,” a senior BJP source said.
A likely claim by BJP for the top position will be supported by Ajit Pawar who may be more comfortable with a non-Maratha like Fadnavis being CM rather than serving as deputy to a fellow Maratha for another term.
The Shinde camp appeared to have sensed the signs of BJP’s resurgent ambition and was resentful of it.
“Shinde ran a govt which delivered on development, helped MLAs improve their chances of re-election and launched the highly popular Ladki Bahin Yojana to shift the vibes,” a source close to the CMO in Mumbai said. He also brought up Shinde’s role in bringing down MVA govt. “We were promised that there would be no change of leadership,” the source said.
However, the outgoing chief minister does not have too many options because of BJP huge numbers and the strong likelihood of Ajit Pawar teaming up with the latter on the leadership issue. Also, the small flocks of Congress, NCP (SP) and Sena UBT are likely to be prone to splits.