Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that he could return as the chief minister for a second tenure after the Maharashtra Assembly polls, reiterating that the saffron allies would contest the polls together and there is no doubt about it.

Fadnavis, who spoke at the conclusion of the state’s special executive party meeting in Goregaon, said, “I have already said I will come back. Please understand I am not just the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but also of the Shiv Sena, RPI and RSP (all allies of the BJP). Hence, ignore this controversy over who will be the chief minister…Our work speaks for itself. The people of Maharashtra will decide who will be the chief minister.”

Fadnavis’s comments came after Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray’s statement that the saffron allies had decided to split all power and posts, including the post of chief minister, equally. The CM used the platform to take a swipe at both the Sena as well as some BJP leaders, saying there were several people in the Sena who were making misleading statements to fan controversy. He said even “our party” has its share of such people.

The chief minister also allayed the fears of old-timers losing out to newcomers, pointing out that while accommodating good candidates from other parties, their strength would never exceed more than 15% of the total candidates. He also said that party cadre should not get complacent owing to the victory in the Lok Sabha polls. “Do not take people for granted. We need to adopt different strategies for different elections.”

State party chief Chandrakant Patil, in his address, also spelt out why the saffron alliance was inevitable. He gave the slogan for the party’s 2019 Assembly polls, ‘Ab ki bar, 220 par’, referring to the number of seats the BJP-Sena alliance were targeting of the 288 Assembly seats.

“You must be wondering why we need an alliance when we have such a strong organisation and we played a major role in the Shiv Sena winning the Lok Sabha seats. However, you need to understand that in the 2014 Assembly polls, had the Congress and NCP fought together, both the BJP and the Shiv Sena who fought separately would not have bagged those many seats”, said Patil. He also pointed out that in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the voting percentage of the Congress has not reduced fantastically. “If they join hands and if we [BJP-Sena] fight separately, there are concerns of whether we will be able to come back to power. If we fight separately, we can bag 170 seats, but that will be a chance,” said Patil. He described the BJP and Sena as two brothers who fight within the family. However, he asked BJP workers to start preparation for all seats. “We need to ensure the win of our allies as we will need them to form the government. We need to work like we would for a BJP candidate,” he added.

First Published: Jul 22, 2019 00:55 IST