Not in the running for Dy CM’s post, says Shrikant Shinde

Shrikant Shinde, Shiv Sena MP, confirms he won't seek a deputy CM role, focusing instead on party work and his constituency amid government formation delays.

MUMBAI: ‘Party above all else’ is the stand taken by Shrikant Shinde, Shiv Sena MP from Kalyan and son of outgoing chief minister Eknath Shinde. Setting to rest speculation that Shinde Senior would propose Shrikant’s name for the post of deputy chief minister in the new government, the latter said he would not be joining the state government and will continue to work for the party and his constituency.

Not in the running for Dy CM’s post, says Shrikant Shinde

Speculation on Shrikant’s possible candidacy as deputy chief minister arose when Eknath Shinde turned down the post as he preferred not to work under BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is widely tipped to the be new CM. Fadnavis was Shinde’s deputy in the previous BJP-led Mahayuti regime.

Shrikant, however, set the debate on his possible candidacy to rest on Monday, via a post on social media. He said that after the Lok Sabha elections, he had an opportunity to work in the Union Cabinet but gave it up for party work. He said he was not in the race for any ministerial position, adding that he would work for the Shiv Sena and the Kalyan parliamentary constituency.

It’s been more than a week since the Mahayuti government swept to power in Maharashtra but the BJP is yet to announce the state’s new chief minister, who will be elected from the party. This delay, as well as the delay in the swearing-in of the new government, was caused by a stalemate that has arisen over the power-sharing arrangement with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The post of deputy CM was offered to Shinde, who turned it down. Instead, he demanded the home portfolio and, Sena insiders say, he was to propose his son for the deputy CM’s post.

Shinde had left abruptly for his hometown in Satara on Friday, delaying discussions with his Mahayuti allies on the power-sharing formula in the new government. He has since returned and was to meet Sena MLAs on Monday at his official residence Varsha, but stayed put in his Thane residence.