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Maharashtra BJP leader Pravin Darekar made the claim even though BJP and its ally Shiv Sena did not specify a CM face during the campaigning phase.
The BJP or the Shiv Sena did not declare a chief ministerial candidate during the polling phase but cadres of the BJP are rooting for Devendra Fadnavis’ return. (IMAGE: PTI FILE)
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pravin Darekar said Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP will be the next Maharashtra chief minister as trends showed the party along with its ally Shiv Sena is leading in Maharashtra as counting of votes continues.
“Fadnavis will be our chief minister,” Darekar said.
Leaders of the BJP have been lining up outside the deputy chief minister’s bungalow as the party led as the state BJP chief, Chandrashekhar Bawankule hugged and greeted Fadnavis.
“The three parties will sit after the results and decide,” Bawankule had told News18 earlier. The other two parties who are BJP’s alliance partners are Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
A News18 report from Friday said that BJP expects to finish as the single-largest party with close to 100 seats and has contested in 152 seats this election. It also said that during the campaigning the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena, remained silent over the CM face but BJP hoardings prominently displayed the picture of Fadnavis who had to settle for the deputy CM post in 2022.
Several MLAs from the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) faction have said that Shinde’s popularity justifies his continuation as Chief Minister.
However, Prasad Lad, the convener of Mahayuti, said the chief minister should be from the BJP.
Shinde himself had asserted during the campaign that there was no internal conflict within the Mahayuti alliance regarding the CM candidate, and that the matter would be decided post-election.
