NEW DELHI: Maharashtra chief minister
Eknath Shinde
said that he will have a conversation with
deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis
, who has offered to resign from his position in the wake of the
BJP’s electoral setbacks
in the state. While speaking with journalists, Shinde emphasized that the electoral defeat was a shared responsibility, as the BJP,
Shiv Sena
, and NCP had contested the
Lok Sabha elections
together as an alliance.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP secured nine seats in Maharashtra, a significant drop from the 22 seats they won in 2019. The Shinde-led Shiv Sena emerged victorious in seven seats, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP managed to win one seat. This is in stark contrast to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition had won an impressive 41 out of the 48 seats in the state.
“I will speak to Devendraji soon,” Shinde told reporters when asked about Fadnavis’ offer to resign as deputy chief minister and focus on rebuilding the party for the assembly elections later this year.
Shinde assured that the reasons for the MahaYuti’s defeat will be thoroughly examined. He emphasized the importance of working together, saying, “We have worked together in the past and we will keep on working in the future. Failures must not discourage us.” Shinde, who ousted Uddhav Thackeray from the Shiv Sena with the support of most of the party MLAs and MPs in 2022, acknowledged that Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena won nine seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
Shinde pointed out that despite the setbacks, the Mahayuti still garnered more than two lakh votes in Mumbai. He attributed the ruling coalition’s collective failure to effectively counter the opposition’s misleading claims during the election campaign, particularly the false narrative that the constitution would be changed, which he believes hurt their prospects.
In a surprising move, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis earlier today offered to resign from his position as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister on Wednesday, taking moral responsibility for the party’s lacklustre performance in the state’s Lok Sabha elections.
Fadnavis appealed to the party’s top leadership to relieve him of his duties in the state government, allowing him to focus on working for the party.
“I take responsibility for results in Maharashtra. I was leading the party. I am requesting the BJP high command to relieve me from the responsibility of the government so that I can work hard for the party in upcoming elections,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis, who served as Maharashtra’s chief minister for 5 years, initially hesitated to join the state government when Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of the NDA. However, following orders from the party’s high command, he took the oath as deputy chief minister under Shinde. Subsequently, Ajit Pawar, who had rebelled against Sharad Pawar and caused a split in the Nationalist Congress Party, also joined the NDA government as another deputy chief minister.
The Maharashtra deputy chief minister attributed the
BJP’s poor performance
in the Lok Sabha elections to several factors, including the consolidation of votes against the party in Mumbai, despite the BJP-led NDA receiving more votes overall in the city. With Maharashtra set to hold assembly elections in October 2024, Fadnavis’s decision to step down and focus on party work could be a strategic move to strengthen the BJP‘s position in the upcoming polls.
