MUMBAI: Sena functionary Ramdas Kadam said on Tuesday that because of Ajit Pawar’s NCP, the Sena’s bargaining power to claim the CM’s post had reduced in the Mahayuti. Kadam said that NCP had said that they were ‘okay’ with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as CM. “We feel Eknath Shinde should be CM, BJP thinks Fadnavis should be CM. Ajit Pawar has surrendered. He has reduced our bargaining power. No matter what happens, there will be no spat in the Mahayuti. We fought the polls under Eknath Shinde and we have got big success,” Kadam, a former minister, said.
He added, “People have given a huge mandate to the Mahayuti. We are together and we will abide by whatever decision New Delhi takes. PM Modi and Amit Shah put faith in Shinde and fought the polls. We will come together and take Maharashtra forward on the path of development. We have full faith in Delhi’s leadership. , Before the elections, Amit Shah had said that all three parties would sit and decide. Nothing apart from this was said.” While Ajit Pawar was on Sunday unanimously elected group leader of the NCP legislature party, sources said on the question of the chief minister’s post, the party has taken the view that in view of the assembly polls results, it would be appropriate if Devendra Fadnavis is placed at the helm of affairs in the state.
Sena MP Naresh Mhaske had said on Monday that Shinde should be declared CM by the NDA top brass by following the ‘Bihar pattern.’
A Sena neta close to Shinde had said on Monday there was an agreement after LS elections that Shinde would take over the reins of the state if Mahayuti won assembly polls. The neta had said that after Mahayuti’s debacle in LS polls, there were meetings to draft a strategy for the assembly elections. There, it was decided that BJP would contest the maximum number of seats followed by Shiv Sena and NCP, but “regardless of the number of seats the Mahayuti constituents win, Shinde will continue to be the CM,” the neta had said. But BJP has said when Amit Shah was in Mumbai, he had made it clear Mahayuti was contesting the polls under leadership of Shinde, but if Mahayuti secured a majority, the new CM would be decided by BJP’s parliamentary board and heads of Sena and NCP. .