Munde, Fadnavis differ on CM’s choice in Maha

Following predictions by the opinion polls that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in Maharashtra, faction leaders have started to air conflicting sentiments on the possibility of who would be the next chief minister. According to agency reports from the state, while Pankaja Munde, MLA and daughter of top BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who was killed in a car crash in June, said the ‘public sentiment’ was for her to occupy the coveted post, state party chief Devendra Fadnavis said ‘there are no front runners or back runners’ in the race.

‘I have never staked claim to chief ministership. I had said the work I will do will contribute to the making of a BJP chief minister in Maharashtra and I have done that,’ Pankaja, Gopinath Munde’s political heir, said after casting her vote in her Parli constituency in Beed district. ‘But, there was this feeling among people that Munde Saheb should become the CM ... probably I also have his (Munde) blessings... and the public sentiment is also the same, but I have never claimed that I should be the CM,’ she said. Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadnavis, considered a favourite for the post, however, said, ‘There are no front runners and back runners. In BJP it is the Legislature Party and Parliamentary Board which decides.’