Gone are the days when the alliances decided their chief minister based on their respective numbers. Whoever had more elected MLAs got the prime post at Mantralaya. When a single party like the Congress ruled three decades ago, the politics within would change the CMs. Post the 2019 elections, state politics has undergone a major change. Uddhav Thackeray found a reason in the BJP’s “unfulfilled promise” of making him the CM notwithstanding his party strength. Subsequently, a three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came into existence. Thackeray was installed as CM. He remained there until the party split. The rebel leader Eknath Shinde, with a third of BJP’s house strength, was chosen to lead the state. His government added one more partner in Ajit Pawar after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) split. And, as Shinde’s term comes to an end soon, various views about the next CM have come to the fore from both ruling and opposition alliances.

Ajit’s wish

If it was Thackeray and the Congress, who were in the news over the claims on the CM’s post recently, the last week belonged to Ajit Pawar, whose party appears to be restless because of a possibility that it might end up with a seat share smaller than Shinde Sena. His party may have denied it, but reports said that he had demanded that the CM’s post should be shared on rotation by three partners. This means he could be ready to concede more seats for the partners in exchange for the top post, albeit for a year or two if Mahayuti retains power. It is said that he had discussed his condition with Union Minister Amit Shah in their meeting last week.