The Mahayuti alliance is yet to appoint a Chief Minister for Maharashtra
The three top leaders of the Mahayuti alliance will meet Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah tomorrow in Delhi to decide on who will be the next chief minister of Maharashtra.
BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, NCP's Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde are in the race.
Before the Maharashtra assembly election, the BJP and the Shiv Sena in a series of meetings agreed that Mr Shinde would continue to be the chief minister irrespective of the number of seats won by each member of the Mahayuti alliance if they win the election, people with direct knowledge of the matter said today.
The BJP contested the maximum number of seats in the election which the Mahayuti alliance swept in a historic feat, taking 235 of the 288 assembly seats, with the BJP alone winning 132 seats. The Shiv Sena won 57 and the NCP 41 seats.
Supporters of the three leaders have claimed their own leaders as the perfect candidate to take the top post in Maharashtra.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India (Athawale), an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has backed Mr Fadnavis to head the state alliance as the next Chief Minister. Mr Athawale has cited the BJP winning the highest number of seats to justify his stand.
"When Eknath Shinde came to know that the BJP high command finalised Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister, he (Mr Shinde) was a bit unhappy, which I can understand. But BJP got 132 seats and so I think they have to make way... Devendra Fadnavis should be made chief minister. Shinde can be made Union Minister," Mr Athawale said on Tuesday.
BJP leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the government in Maharashtra would be formed after taking everyone into confidence.
"There is an alliance of three parties. Therefore, a decision will be taken only after taking everyone into confidence. There is no delay because it has been only four days since the results were announced. Whatever Ramdas Athawale has said is his personal opinion. A stable government will be formed," Mr Chavan said.
Mr Shinde was instrumental in bringing a chunk of Shiv Sena MLAs to ally with the BJP and take down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which led to a situation that forced former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to resign. Mr Shinde also managed to wrest control of the original Shiv Sena party symbol and name.
Ajit Pawar also used the same strategy in breaking away from his uncle Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with a huge chunk of MLAs to join the newly Shiv Sena and BJP alliance. Sharad Pawar met the same fate as Uddhav Thackeray. Ajit Pawar took with him the NCP's original name and party symbol.
Mr Fadnavis, a former Chief Minister before the BJP was ditched by the Shiv Sena after the last assembly election, is said to enjoy a huge following among BJP MLAs in Maharashtra.
These factors make the contributions of the three leaders no less instrumental in relation to one another in bringing the BJP-led alliance to power again in the state, which would likely make choosing a chief minister from the Mahayuti a demanding task for the party's central leadership.