Despite days of persuasion from several quarters, Shiv Sena leader and incumbent Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is reluctant to make a move to the national capital. The senior leader is known to have firmly said no to the nudge by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The senior leader is understood to have decided to stay in Maharashtra as he tries to protect his flock from any possible political poaching. It is believed that Shinde is willing to settle on the position of Deputy Chief Minister.
Sources stated that Shinde is fearful that if he leaves Maharashtra politics and shifts base to Delhi his legislators would become vulnerable to poaching.
“He knows that, apart from him, no one in his party commands the respect or authority to keep the flock together. If he moves to national politics, it could spell disaster for Shiv Sena as their ranks would be under constant attacks,” sources added.
The Shiv Sena isn’t just fearful of the opposition parties, who may be baying for legislators to improve their numbers, but Shinde also needs to keep an eye on the MahaYuti allies. “All political parties in Maharashtra are vulnerable to such manipulations and would want to protect their respective legislators from any attempts at breaking their ranks,” sources said.
The Shiv Sena legislators would be fair game for both opposition as well as allies, sources added.
This was the chief reason that Eknath Shinde decided against moving to national politics. Moreover, his son Shrikant Shinde, was considered a lightweight and would not have been able to control aspirations of party legislators and would also not be able to discipline them if need arises.
This was the reason that the proposal to designate Shrikant, Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan, as the Deputy Chief Minister, and for Eknath to move to central Cabinet was also not approved by the party’s high command. Any such move would have been disastrous for the party as it would have created a wrong precedent. One of the strong reasons for the Eknath faction from breaking away from Shiv Sena UBT was prevalence of nepotism in the erstwhile united Shiv Sena.
The new Maharashtra Chief Minister is set to take oath on December 5. The BJP’s and MahaYuti’s legislature party leader is likely to be finalized in a day or two and the name of Devendra Fadnavis is being speculated upon.
The MahaYuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, secured an unprecedented 230 out of 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, with the BJP winning 132, Shiv Sena securing 57, and the NCP taking 41. While the MVA only managed to win 46 seats, with the Congress contributing a mere 16 to the total.
