Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday suggested that as long as he is the party’s state unit chief, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should become the chief minister for the “overall development” of the state. The statement comes months after Bawankule’s predecessor Chandrakant Patil, who is now a cabinet minister, had said that the party decided with a heavy heart that rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde should become the state’s chief minister instead of Fadnavis.
Bawankule’s remark gave ammunition to the opposition parties, with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) saying that it showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had no value for current CM Shinde. Speaking at a public event in Nagpur, Bawankule said, “…As long as I am the state unit president (of the BJP), Fadnavis should become…” The BJP leader left the sentence incomplete and took a pause as he waited for response from the audience.
After a couple of persons from the audience shouted “chief minister”, Bawankule continued his speech and said, “We all need to work in such a manner that he (Fadnavis) will get that post (of CM). It is not about getting him that post, but it is for the overall development of Maharashtra state.” “If one person can define the future of Maharashtra, it is Devendraji,” he added. The BJP, the largest single party in the Maharashtra Assembly, sprang a surprise on June 30 when it announced that Shinde, who had split the Sena and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, who would become the CM.