Ajit Pawar To Replace Eknath Shinde As Next Maharashtra CM? NCP Leader Chhagan Bhujbal Replies

Mumbai, November 24: As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.

Of 288 assembly constituencies, the ruling Mahayuti secured 230 seats in the assembly polls, the results for which came on Saturday. The BJP won 132 seats while its allies- the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, won 57 seats, and the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, won 41 seats. Maharashtra Assembly Election Results 2024: Ajit Pawar-Led NCP Surges Ahead of Uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP.

"All the three parties will sit together and decide who will be our leader. We three parties will sit together and decide who will become the Chief Minister. Ajit Pawar can also become the CM, his strike rate is very good," Bhujbal told ANI.

"Today all our MLAs came to the meeting, many council members also came, and everyone has decided that Ajit Pawar will lead us in the Vidhan Sabha. But who will be the CM, we three parties will decide together," he added. Ajit Pawar Outsmarts Estranged Uncle Sharad Pawar by Winning More Seats in Maharashtra Assembly Elections Results 2024.

Earlier in the day, NCP president Deepak Mankar said that the party workers are in favour of making 'dada' (Ajit Pawar) the Chief Minister of the state. "The workers of NCP wish that if 'dada' (Ajit Pawar), then Maharashtra will get a good direction. Dada has the capacity to do work...we know the kind of work he did in Maharashtra as deputy CM in the last 2.5 years...let's see...Mahayuti is taking everyone along," Mankar told ANI.

When asked about CM's face, he said it had been decided that leaders of three parties would sit together and decide on the chief minister. "PM Modi and Amit Shah will take the decision, everyone will sit together. Fadnavis, Shinde and Dada (Ajit Pawar) three of them are capable," he added.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a rude jolt with Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray winning 20 seats, Congress securing 16, and NCP(SCP) led by Sharad Pawar managed just 10 seats out of 288 member Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The BJP saw a fabulous strike rate with the party winning 133 of the 148 seats it contested in the state. The assembly elections in Maharashtra were held on November 20.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday lashed out at Congress, announcing that there will be no Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state legislature. Bawankule further said that Maharashtra not having a Leader of Opposition (LoP) was a result of "wrong deeds" committed by Congress and the opposition parties.

"Maharashtra will not have a leader of the opposition (LoP) this time. This is the result of the wrong deeds of Congress and the opposition. They spread fake narratives in Lok Sabha Elections and duped voters at that time. So when people came to know about this in assembly polls, voters kicked them out as they did in Haryana," BJP Maharashtra chief said.

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