The big question: Who will be CM?

With the BJP leading Mahayuti partners to a historic victory in Maharashtra elections on Saturday, the focus has shifted to potential chief ministerial nominees.

A decision on the question will have to be taken by Mahayuti allies sooner because the term of the Maharashtra Assembly expires on November 26. This means the swearing-in must happen before that.

NDA partners — Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP and his counterpart Ajit Pawar of the NCP — today said there would be no dispute on the CM issue.

“Just as we contested the election together, we will finalise the name of the CM together,” said Shinde while Fadnavis said it had already been decided that all allies would sit together and finalise the matter.

Though the BJP’s claim on the top job is clear with the party posting the best-ever show in the state, Shinde, the Maratha strongman who proved his credentials today, stays in the race. As in Haryana, where the BJP retained Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC as the face of the party in elections, it went with Eknath Shinde as the face in Maharashtra. The idea was to show solidarity with the top community leaders.

Prior to the Maharashtra poll, a BJP strategist, when asked if the situation could change post elections should the Mahayuti win, said, “There would be no cause for that.”

A section in the BJP believes the party may spring a surprise in Maharashtra by retaining Shinde despite Fadnavis being a clear contender. This would be in line with the party’s Haryana strategy where Saini remained the CM despite speculation that he could be changed as was done in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

“The party may retain Shinde in an expression of solidarity with Marathas who generously backed the saffron coalition. He represents a community that was miffed with the BJP over the reservation issue. One cannot also discount the fact that Shinde was the face of the alliance which won. He delivered on development and welfare promises by piloting the Ladki Bahin Yojana for cash benefit to women and pro-farmer policies. Women voters swung in the BJP’s favour,” a source said though a dominant view in the saffron party was that Shinde and Ajit Pawar would both respect the support the BJP received today as the leader of the coalition.

The BJP won 132 of the 149 seats it contested — a strike rate of around 90%. The Shiv Sena won 57 of the 81 seats and the NCP 41 of the 59 seats it contested. Come to think of it, the BJP needs only one ally to govern Maharashtra and both allies understand that. But party leaders add a caveat — in politics, two and two are not always four and there may be surprises in store.