Maharashtra: Who will be Mahayuti's CM face in upcoming assembly polls? Bawankule says 'BJP leadership, allies will decide'

Just like the voters of Maharashtra, every Indian has this one question in mind-- Who will be the ruling Mahayuti's CM face in the country's richest state during the upcoming assembly polls? Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said that there has been no discussion so far on who the ruling alliance will project as the chief ministerial face in the state polls due later this year. 

Bawankule said that any decision on the CM face in Maharashtra will be taken by the BJP's central leadership and its alliance partners-- Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

When asked whether Devendra Fadnavis could be the CM face, Bawankule told reporters that the NDA's key priority is the development of the state and its people unlike MVA which, he claims, has 5-6 CM aspirants. 

“Whenever a decision (over CM’s face) will need to be taken, our central leadership, Maharashtra in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw and Mahayuti leaders Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar will sit and decide,” he said.

He added that Fadnavis would not resign from the post of the state home minister. On the question of unncertainty around Ajit Pawar sticking around with the Mahayuti for the assembly polls, Bawankule said the allies will have to do good work and move on.

The Maharashtra BJP chief also noted that the party will take out a 'Dhanywad Yatra' across the state to thank the voters. He also took aim at Sharad Pawar and the MVA for their personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

“Modi ji may have said just a word, but the opposition has been using indecent language against him for the past one and a half years and people of Maharashtra have taken a note of it. Pawar Saheb should also analyse how MVA leaders made personal attacks on Modi ji."

He further mentioned that in the BJP core meeting, the Mahayuti's below-par performance in Lok Sabha polls and why the alliance's vote share was 0.3 per cent less than the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

The MVA comprises Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, Congress led by Nana Patole, NCP (SCP) led by Sharad Pawar. In the recently conducted Lok Sabha polls, the Mahayuti won only 17 out of the 48 seats in the state.

The BJP won 9 seats, Shiv Sena 7 and the NCP just one. The MVA, on the other hand, won a total of 30 seats. 

(With agency inputs)