Top NDA leaders met at Chief Minister Shinde’s residence after NDA’s huge win
Mumbai:
As Maharashtra strikes past the poll battle right into a Game of Thrones with the Mahayuti, a celebratory get-together at Varsha — the Chief Minister official residence — could also be sending out a chair message.
As the NDA inched in the direction of an enormous mandate, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar reached Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s residence to congratulate him on the ballot victory.
The leaders sat at Varsha, exchanging greetings and smiles, and one sight was unmissable. Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis sat on an identical high-back chairs, Ajit Pawar and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale sat beside them in smaller chairs.
While this can be a pure coincidence, its timing couldn’t have been higher. Mr Shinde holds the Chief Minister seat after his rebel that break up the Shiv Sena and introduced the BJP again to energy within the politically-significant state. After the 2022 rebel, regardless of being the large brother within the alliance, the BJP let Mr Shinde take the highest publish and took an ethical excessive floor. Later, Ajit Pawar led a mutiny that divided the NCP and the insurgent MLAs joined the ruling alliance. A former Chief Minister and the tallest BJP chief in Maharashtra, Mr Fadnavis accepted the Number 2 publish within the authorities, albeit grudgingly.
Cut to 2024 and the BJP’s all-time greatest efficiency is the anchor in NDA’s Maharashtra sweep. The BJP has received 130 out of the 148 seats it contested — a strike charge of almost 90 per cent. The Shinde Sena has received 54 seats and the Ajit Pawar’s NCP 41.
The BJP is prone to stake a declare to the highest publish. And because of its stellar present, it wants solely considered one of its two allies to again it to go previous the magic determine within the 288-member Assembly. Mr Shinde and Mr Fadnavis maintained {that a} choice on the Chief Minister publish shall be taken at a gathering of the allies. But BJP’s sturdy rating provides it appreciable leverage and the allies might have to search out pleasure in ministerial berths.
Against this backdrop, the an identical chairs occupied by Mr Shinde and Mr Fadnavis ship a silent message. Ajit Pawar’s smaller chair means that he’ll stay the small brother within the alliance.
The three allies, nonetheless, put up a united entrance after the win. Mr Shinde, Mr Fadnavis and Mr Pawar sat facet by facet as they addressed the media and detailed the elements behind the NDA’s massive victory. Chief Minister Shinde sat within the center, along with his two deputies Mr Fadnavis and Mr Pawar flanking him.
The election has been received, however the BJP has its fingers full because it negotiates the Game of Thrones that can start now and asserts its supremacy whereas balancing the alliance dharma.