Supporters of senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari began to lobby intensely for his candidature as Maharashtra’s next Chief Minister on Tuesday, even as the party deferred the Government formation exercise till Monday next, owing to the ongoing Diwali festivities.
Within hours of the BJP’s former State president Sudhir Mungantiwar rooting openly for Gadkari’s candidature for the Chief Minister’s post, as many as 40 newly-elected party MlAs from Vidarbha indulged in a show of support for the Union Road Transport Minister. They met at his Nagpur residence, pledged their support to him and urged him to take over the command of the State.
In what appeared like a well-executed political script, 37 of the 40 BJP MlAs from Vidarbha headed straight to Nagpur from Mumbai after the postponement of the legislative party meeting and met Gadkari, who had earlier arrived from New Delhi. Three party MlAs had arrived earlier at Gadkari’s Nagpur residence from their constituencies in Vidarbha, where the BJP won as many as 44 out of the total 62 seats in the October 15 Assembly polls.
With Gadkari suddenly in the chief ministerial race, the hopes of State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis, who had emerged as a strong contender for the coveted post, making it to the top position took a heavy beating on Tuesday evening. After his meeting with the MlAs, Gadkari said: “I am not keen to return to Maharashtra from New Delhi, where I am happy. But, all the same, I will follow the orders I get from the party leadership.”
On a day when the BJP’s central observer Rajnath Singh put off his visit to Mumbai to early next week the State party unit deferred the legislature party meeting till next Monday.When one thought that there would not be much political activity within the BJP till Diwali was over, Gadkari’s close confidant Sudhir Mungantiwar created a flutter by openly pitching for Gadkari’s candidature as the Chief Minister.
“All of us feel that Gadkari should return to State politics and take up the Chief Minister’s post. Our party’s central Parliamentary Board will take a final decision on this after eliciting the views of the newly-elected MlAs. As far as we are concerned, we all want him to come back and take over the reins of the State,” Mungantiwar said, pointing out that given his administrative experience Gadkari was an ideal candidate for the top job.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that Gadkari had himself opted out of the Chief Minister’s race, Mungantiwar said: “We are surprised that Gadkari has said that he doesn’t want to be in the State. We all demand, in fact, the party here in Maharashtra wants Gadkari to be CM”.
After the BJP’s national president met Gadkari in the National Capital on Monday, speculation had resurfaced in party circles that he might be nominated as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of other contenders for the post like Fadnavis, Pankaja Munde, Eknath Khadse, Vinod Tawde and Mungantiwar himself. However, not many had lent credence to the speculation in the face of a firm denial by Gadkari himself and the growing indications that Fadnavis was ahead of other contenders for the post.
Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra BJP postponed the party meeting till early next week, following the cancellation of the party’s central observer Rajnath Singh’s scheduled visit to Mumbai. Singh, who along with BJP general secretary JP Nadda has been appointed observer for the selection of the legislature party leader, was expected to arrive here on Tuesday morning.
However, he told reporters in Delhi that the visit had been postponed. “I am not going today. I think I will visit Mumbai after Diwali,” Singh said.Meanwhile, the BJP continued to reach out to newly-elected Independent MlAs and those from smaller parties who can be roped in and who collectively account for 16 seats. If the BJP manages to win over the 16 “available” MlAs, then its tally will go up to 139.
BJP’s election-in-charge for Maharashtra Om Mathur indicated that the party was exploring the possibility of forming a Government without the support of either the Shiv Sena or the NCP. While the Sena has a strength of 63 MlAs, the NCP which has extended unsolicited “outside support” to the BJP has 41 MlAs.
Mathur said that contrary to speculation in the media, the BJP had not given any proposal to the Shiv Sena. “If the Sena comes up with a proposal, we will consider it,” he said.