Amid reports of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis standing firm on his decision to resign, taking responsibility for the NDA's poor performance in the state, Home Minister Amit Shah has spoken to him and asked him to continue his work in the government.
Mr Fadnavis, a former chief minister, is part of the Maharashtra government with the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The undivided Shiv Sena and the BJP had won 41 of the state's 48 between them in 2019, but the new coalition - called the Mahayuti in Maharashtra - managed to get only 17 this time.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), has achieved victory in 30 constituencies.
Mr Fadnavis had offered to resign on Wednesday, a day after the counting of votes, and several BJP leaders have spoken to him since. After the NDA meeting earlier on Friday, the BJP leader sat down with fellow Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss the coalition's performance in the state. Sources said the subject of Mr Fadnavis' resignation also came up.
The deputy chief minister then met Mr Shah at his residence where, sources said, the home minister asked him to continue working for the Maharashtra government and also prepare a plan for revitalising the BJP in the state. Assembly elections in Maharashtra are likely to be held around October this year.
"If you resign, it will affect the morale of BJP workers. So don't resign now," Mr Shah was quoted as having told Mr Fadnavis. Mr Shah also told him that they would discuss the resignation in detail after the swearing-in of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister for the third time, which is scheduled to be held at 6 pm on Sunday.
The INDIA alliance's performance in Maharashtra, the second-biggest contributor of MPs to the Lok Sabha, was one of the reasons the BJP was reduced to 240 seats from its tally of 303 in 2019. The NDA, however, won 293 Lok Sabha seats, comfortably over the majority mark of 272.
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