The result of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election settled - the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has all but sealed a thumping victory over the Congress' Maha Vikas Aghadi combine - the focus is now on who will succeed Eknath Shinde as Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters Saturday evening, the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis - a two-time holder of that post (even if the second was a matter of days only) - offered some insight into that vexed query, declaring a decision had already been taken. Alliance leaders, he said, had been instructed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the Chief Minister will be selected after a consultation between all.
"There will be no dispute about who will be the Chief Minister... it was decided from day one that, after the election, the leaders of the three parties will sit together and decide this," he stressed.