The Maharashtra Assembly elections are just 11 days away and with the BJP's big guns — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah — conducting back-to-back public meetings, the political heat in the state is now increasing. While the Mahayuti has constantly maintained that the Mahayuti has no Chief Ministerial candidate, Amit Shah dropped a hint on Friday that the BJP may well push for Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the post.
At a rally in Maharashtra's Sangli on Friday, Amit Shah spoke highly of Devendra Fadnavis. During his speech, he said: "I have been to different regions of Maharashtra. I went to Vidarbha, Mumbai, Konkan, Kolhapur, Jalgaon, and many other places. Wherever I went, I could see only one resolve among the people... 'Mahayuti must form the government; Devendra bhai must win."
The Mahayuti is a coalition of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), the BJP, and the NCP (Ajit Pawar).
This is seen as a big signal as Fadnavis himself had said at the ABP Shikhar Sammelan in Mumbai two weeks ago that incumbent CM Eknath Shinde is leading the Mahayuti and the alliance will fight the assembly polls under him. Later, Fadnavis dismissed the idea of 'rotational CM' in Maharashtra, saying "musical chair won't be played with the state's CM chair". He said there will be a fixed CM for five years. Fadnavis in an interview with a TV channel also said that neither Eknath Shinde nor any other Mahayuti leader had sought the CM's post in case of a BJP.
Moreover, ahead of the polls, BJP workers put up large posters and banners of Fadnavis in Mumbai. The issue is now being used as fodder by the Opposition, with state Congress president Nana Patole saying that the BJP won't let Eknath Shinde become the CM again.