'BJP used Shinde and now wants its man as Maha CM'

Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar leader Clyde Crasto on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using Ekanth Shinde to win the elections.

"The whole issue of who is going to be the next Maharashtra CM is turning out to be a big question. During the elections, the BJP always said that they were contesting the elections with Eknath Shinde as the face of Mahayuti. Now when the time has come and he has also performed, and it is the time to make him the CM again, the party is talking about the Bihar model not being there and other issues. This clearly means they are using Eknath Shinde," Crasto said.

He further said that injustice was being done to Shinde.

"This is injustice to Shinde. Are they trying to say that he is not good enough to be the CM or are they trying to say that they did what they wanted to do, used him and now they want their man as the CM? Whatever it is they have got the mandate of the people and they need to respect it. They need to announce the Chief Minister who will lead Maharashtra prosperity," he added.

The conundrum over whether Shinde will continue at the helm or whether Devendra Fadnavis, who steered the BJP to stupendous victory, will replace him remains unsolved even three days after the Mahayuti romped home to retain power.

The BJP-led Mahayuti won a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections winning 235 seats in the 288-member House.

The BJP won 132 seats, followed by Shinde-led Shiv Sena (57) and Ajit Pawar-led NCP (41). Smaller parties, who are part of the alliance, won five seats.

With the term of the outgoing Maharashtra assembly ending on November 26, Shinde met Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation on Tuesday.

The governor asked Shinde to act as a caretaker chief minister till the new CM is sworn in.