Maharashtra: New CM on Wednesday, Nirmala Sitharaman, Vijay Rupani Named Central Observers

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 2: It will still be at least two more days before the name of the next Maharashtra chief minister will be known. The meeting of the BJP legislature party to elect its leader has been convened at 10 AM on December 4 at the central hall of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, the party leadership announced on Monday.

The schedule of the legislature party meeting was fixed after the party’s central leadership appointed the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani as the central observers at the legislature party meeting. According to sources, Mr Rupani will be reaching Mumbai on Tuesday evening and Ms Sitharaman on December 4 morning to attend the legislature party meet.

Even nine days after the results of the state Assembly elections were announced on November 23 giving a massive mandate to the BJP-led three-party “Mahayuti,” it had not been able to decide on the formation of the new government and name the new chief minister. Mr Eknath Shinde was obliged to tender his resignation at the expiry of the term of the earlier House on November 26 and is continuing as the caretaker chief minister.

The Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has already announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new Mahayuti government will take place on December 5 evening at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, though the party is yet to stake its claim to form the next government or received an invitation for the swearing-in.

Though the party has made no announcement, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy Chief Minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position. The party’s two main allies, the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party, are each tipped to be given deputy CM positions in the new government.

Shiv Sena MP Srikant Shinde, the son of caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on Monday said the speculation about him getting the deputy CM’s post in the new state government was “false and baseless.” In a post on X, the parliamentarian also said he had the chance of becoming a minister at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year, but he refused it and he wanted to focus on working for the party organisation.

He said the rumours escalated after his father went to the village for two days and took rest due to ill health. “The news that I will be the deputy chief minister has been circulating with question marks for the past two days. There is no truth to this, and all such news is baseless,” the Kalyan MP said on X.

He said despite an opportunity to become a minister in the central government after the Lok Sabha elections, he had turned it down to focus on strengthening the party organisation. “I have no desire for a position of power. I make it clear once again that I am not in the race for any ministerial position in the state,” he said, reinforcing his commitment to work for his Lok Sabha constituency and Shiv Sena.

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the 288-seat House with 132 MLAs, while the Shinde Sena got 57 and the Pawar NCP group 41. That meant the BJP can form the government – with the majority mark at 145 – without help from the Sena faction, unlike the 2022 mid-term switch.

The fact that the BJP does not, at this point, need the Shinde Sena’s help (assuming Ajit Pawar’s NCP remains an ally) has emboldened the saffron party to claim the Chief Minister’s position, a claim that has not gone down all too well with outgoing Chief Minister Shinde and his party.

But last week Mr Shinde, after days of posturing – which included retreating to his native village Dare in Satara district from where he returned to Mumbai only on Sunday night. The move was attributed to a need for rest after a draining election campaign but one seen as conveying displeasure at being sidelined – seemed to accept the new status quo. The NCP has already indicated it will back the BJP, meaning party boss Ajit Pawar will likely return as Deputy Chief Minister. Who the second deputy will be remains to be seen.

The delay in announcing the Chief Minister has drawn predictable criticism from the opposition. Thackeray Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, slammed the Mahayuti’s inability to close the deal even a week after the result and called it was an “insult” to Maharashtra. He has called the move to announce a swearing-in date without even staking claim to form the government as “pure anarchy.”