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Journalism of Courage
Who will be the Maharashtra CM? That is the big question on everyone’s minds five days after the election results. And there could be potential name Thursday, with caretaker CM Eknath Shinde and outgoing deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, of the BJP and NCP respectively, attending a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi where a discussion would be held on this issue.
On Wednesday, Shinde announced that the Shiv Sena would accept and support the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the CM question and said there would be “no obstacle” from their side.
“I spoke to the prime minister and the home minister and said that there will be no obstacle from our side in government formation. Modi ji is the leader of the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] and I said that whatever their decision is and whoever their CM candidate is, the Shiv Sena will fully support him,” Shinde said, addressing the media at his residence in Thane.
Indicating that he was willing to step down as chief minister, Shinde said his party would also support the BJP’s decision on the post. “The Shiv Sena will support the BJP and PM Modi’s decision. I spoke to Union minister Amit Shah as well as PM Modi about it and conveyed the decision of supporting their decision on the CM post,” Shinde reiterated.
The Mahayuti alliance won the recent Assembly elections, winning 230 seats in the 288-member House.
The BJP bagged 132 seats, the highest among all constituents of the Mahayuti. Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.
Five days after the poll results, the alliance is yet to take any decision on the CM face.
Meanwhile, there are rumblings on the other side.
There is increasing pressure from Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders to leave the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. Majority of the 20 Sena (UBT) MLAs reportedly urged this at a meeting held by party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said the grassroots cadre of the Sena (UBT), which was completely overshadowed by the Eknath Shinde Sena’s 57-seat tally in the Assembly elections, is questioning the “effectiveness” of the MVA.
However, sources said, Thackeray as well as other senior party leaders such as Aaditya Thackeray and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut are keen on maintaining the alliance to “present a united opposition against the BJP”.
Post-polls, many Sena (UBT) leaders are also speaking out about “the lack of unity within the MVA”, citing issues such as the delay in announcing the seat-sharing arrangement and instances of the Congress backing Independents instead of Sena (UBT) candidates in some seats.
The MVA was forged following the 2019 results after the then united Shiv Sena pulled out of its partnership with the BJP over the question of chief ministership. Thackeray then joined hands with the then united NCP and Congress to form the MVA government. It fell in 2022 after Shinde engineered a split in the Sena. A year later, Ajit Pawar brought about a split in the NCP.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren is set to take oath as CM again Thursday, but he might be the only one to do so with other Cabinet names not being decided.
“Only Hemant babu will take oath as allies Congress and CPI (ML) L are yet to zero in on who their respective legislative party leaders in the Assembly will be,” a source within the JMM said.
Sources within the state unit of ally Congress, however, claimed that there was a “possibility” that one of its legislators along with an RJD MLA may join the JMM leader in the oath-taking ceremony, with a Congress leader saying that there was still some time to go for the ceremony.
“We are in the process of ironing things out. At the moment, one can assume Soren ji will be the only one to be sworn in. But other possibilities cannot be ruled out,” an insider in the Jharkhand Congress said.
JMM sources said that the 12-member Jharkhand Cabinet would be filled broadly on the “one ministerial berth per every four legislators” formula, and would largely have two MLAs each from the five administrative regions – South Chotanagpur, North Chotanagpur, Kolhan, Palamu and Santhal Pargana – of the state.
A host of INDIA bloc leaders including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, among others, are likely to attend Soren’s swearing-in.
