Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 29: Despite winning a massive mandate, the suspense over the choice of the next chief minister of Maharashtra mong the three-party “Mahayuti” alliance, will continue for at least two more days as upset over the talks in Delhi over the ministry formation, the caretaker chief minister Eknath Shinde on his return to Mumbai from the national capital left for his native village in Satara district cancelling all the crucial meetings.
The Big 3 of Maharashtra’s BJP-led alliance “Mahayuti,” Devendra Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, met with the union home minister Amit Shah on Thurstday evening in Delhi. While Mr Fadnavis is almost certain to be Chief Minister, many other issues, particularly distribution of key portfolios remained unresolved and were left for the three to decide among themselves by holding meetings in Mumbai.
But apparently upset over he being bypassed for continuing at the top post, Mr Shinde is learnt to have rejected the offer of deputy chief ministership and on return to Mumbai left for his native village cancelling both the meetings of the “Mahayuti” leaders and the Shiv Sena legislature party for at least two days, that much delaying all the process for government formation.
Responding to the latest developments, Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant, however, claimed that Mr Shinde was not upset over anything and had gone to his village for personal reasons. He also claimed that on his return to Mumbai, the process would be completed smoothly without any problem.
The Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), emerged victorious the Maharashtra assembly election results six days ago and a new chief minister and his team of ministers are yet to take charge.
The BJP legislature party is expected to meet in the next couple of days to elect its leader after which the key alliance leaders, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar will finalise a list and again fly to Delhi on Monday to meet with the BJP top brass to get clearance over the list of ministers before making an announcement. Sources within the Mahayuti said the new Chief Minister was likely to take oath on December 5. Mr Samant said the BJP would appoint its legislative party leader in the next two days, which will make it easier for the Mahayuti allies to decide on the next course of action.
Mr Shinde was reportedly offered to be accommodated in the union cabinet if he was unwilling to serve as the deputy chief minister, but Shiv Sena’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane, said Mr Shinde would prefer to stay back in Maharashtra. Mane said Eknath Shinde was likely to push for his son, Shrikant, for a cabinet berth at the Centre.
“We hope we’ll get some clarity over the next two days,” he added. Shiv Sena MP and senior leader Naresh Mhaske emphasised that Eknath Shinde would remain in Maharashtra as he was an MLA, adding that top party leaders will finalise who’ll get the Cabinet post at the Centre.
Mr Shah chaired a crucial meeting at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday night with Mahayuti leaders to end the deadlock over the CM’s choice which sources said has been allocated to the BJP. Sources said the Thursday’s meeting primarily witnessed discussions around cabinet berth allocations, with Mr Shinde demanding at least 12 key ministerial berths in the new cabinet for Shiv Sena. Later Mr Shinde said the meeting was “good and positive.” He confirmed that another meeting would happen in Mumbai today for a final decision on the CM’s face but later cancelled it.
Sources said Mr Shinde was heading to his village in Satara and the meetings would be held after his return. His sudden plan sparked speculation that he was unhappy about the government formation talks.
Mr Shinde’s announcement leaving the Chief Minister decision to the BJP cleared the way for a smooth change at the top. Sources said the current formula of one chief minister with two deputies will likely continue. But Mr Shinde is reportedly not keen on a deputy role. Sanjay Shirsat, an MLA and spokesperson of the Shiv Sena, said, “He is unlikely to be a deputy chief minister. It does not befit a person who has already served as chief minister.”
Mr Samant said Shiv Sena wanted him to be a part of the Maharashtra government. “If Eknath Shinde wants someone else to be the deputy chief minister, then it is his nobility but we (Shiv Sena) think that he should be a part of the Maharashtra government,” he said.
The BJP is likely to keep the Home portfolio and Ajit Pawar’s NCP may retain Finance. Mr Shinde’s Sena is likely get the urban development and public works departments. While the BJP is likely to get 22 Cabinet berths, the Shiv Sena and NCP will get 12 and 9 portfolios respectively, sources said.
None of the three top Maharashtra leaders spoke with the media after the meeting Mr Shah. Mr Shinde held a meeting of his party’s parliamentarians in Delhi thereafter.
The BJP will now call the meeting of its newly-elected MLAs. After they appoint their Legislature Party leader, another round of talks of the Mahayuti leaders will take place. “Today’s talks were positive. It was the first round of talks,” a top source said.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat said if outgoing Mr Shinde did not accept the deputy CM’s post, it would be given to someone from their party. Talking to reporters, Mr Shirsat said Eknath Shinde will certainly not go to the Centre as a Union minister.
