Fadnavis Firm on His Resignation, Meets Amit Shah to Discuss Reasons Behind NDA Loss in Maharashtra

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is firm on his resignation on account of the BJP’s poor performance in the state during the Lok Sabha elections. Last night (June 6), he met senior BJP leader Amit Shah and made it clear that he stands by his decision to resign from the post of deputy CM, sources said.

According to News18 sources, the meeting took place at Shah’s residence where Fadnavis told him that he stands by his decision to resign and there is a need to work at the organisation level.

He also discussed the reasons behind the poor performance of the BJP-led NDA in Maharashtra. There is, however, no decision yet on his resignation.

The Mahayuti, as the NDA is known in Maharashtra, suffered heavy electoral reverses in the state with the BJP managing to win nine Lok Sabha seats in the state, as against 22 won in the 2019 elections, while the Shinde-led Shiv Sena emerged victorious on seven seats and Ajit Pawar-led NCP could win only one. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition had won 41 out of a total of 48 seats in the state.

Fadnavis had offered to resign two days ago, but chief minister Eknath Shinde said the electoral defeat was a collective responsibility as an alliance and he will speak with his deputy. “I will speak to Devendra ji soon,” Shinde said.

Shinde said Fadnavis wants to focus on rebuilding the party for the assembly elections later this year and the reasons for the Mahayuti’s defeat will be reviewed. “We have worked together in the past and we will keep on working in the future. Failures must not discourage us,” he said. The Sena leader had ousted Uddhav Thackeray from his party, with the support of most of the MLAs and MPs in 2022.

Thackeray’s faction, meanwhile, performed better than his by winning nine seats in the general elections. “If you look at the vote share, Mahayuti got more than two lakh votes in Mumbai,” the chief minister said.

He said the ruling coalition of BJP-Shiv Sena and NCP collectively failed to counter the opposition’s misleading claims during the election campaign. “The false narrative that the Constitution will be changed hurt us,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)