CM will be from BJP only: Fadnavis

By Kartik Lokhande 

NAGPUR, Oct 19: With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning over 120 seats and falling short of majority in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls, its State chief Devendra Fadnavis said that all options were open as far as alliance required to form the Government in Maharashtra was concerned. Still, with BJP emerging as the single largest party with its best-ever performance, Fadnavis said confidently, “The next Chief Minister will be from BJP only.”
Talking to mediapersons after his thumping victory in Assembly elections from South-West Nagpur constituency, Fadnavis said that the people had reposed faith in BJP as the credible alternative in Maharashtra. “This is the result of hard work done by BJP workers. We have been able to secure almost thrice the number of seats this time than we had in previous election,” he said. In the Assembly elections held in 2009, BJP had won 46 seats. This time, its tally has gone well over 120 seats till filing of this report.

However, with this tally, it is short of majority and it may have to take help of others. Asked about the offer of ‘unconditional support’ given by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Fadnavis said that all options were open. “Though NCP has offered us support, BJP is yet to take a decision on this,” he added. On Sunday night, he said, BJP would be assessing the entire political situation vis-a-vis its splendid performance and then arrive at some decision. Asked if BJP would take help of its estranged ally Shiv Sena in forming the Government, he replied that the decision would be taken after reviewing the situation.
Fadnavis is being tipped as the Chief Ministerial candidate of BJP. Commenting on this, he said with a smile, “The decision will be taken by Parliamentary Board of BJP.” On whether superb performance of BJP paved way for statehood to Vidarbha, he said, “We have always been in favour of statehood to Vidarbha.”
During its intense poll campaign, BJP had announced to conduct probe into decisions taken by erstwhile Congress-NCP Government in State. Against the backdrop of some of Congress and NCP leaders joining BJP and getting BJP ticket, and after results NCP offering ‘unconditional support’, Fadnavis said that BJP would keep its word. “We will initiate probe into Congress-NCP Government’s decisions that were not in larger public interest. Our stand will be the same even if it involves people from these parties joining BJP,” he observed.
In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, erstwhile BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had secured lead in 58 out of total 62 Assembly segments spread across 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Vidarbha. However, in Assembly polls, BJP could win 43-44 seats. Asked about this, the BJP state chief said that it was the best-ever performance of BJP and it lost some of the seats by a very narrow margin.