Mumbai, Oct 21 (Agencies) : With the Bharatiya Janata Party delaying till after Diwali any further discussions on government formation in Maharashtra, voices started growing on Tuesday to bring Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari back to the state and make him the chief minister.
BJP MLA and former state unit president Sudhir Mungantiwar today said he and other state leaders want Gadkari to be appointed as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Mungantiwar said he will request Gadkari to take up the post.
It may be noted that Gadkari is not keen on returning to state politics and has said before many times that he was happy in Delhi.
“I am not in the race to become the chief minister of Maharashtra,” Gadkari had said earlier.
BJP president Amit Shah's meeting yesterday with Gadkari had raised speculation that the Union Minister was in the CM's race but it appeared to be ruled out by party insiders.
The demand came even as BJP's Maharashtra chief Devendra Fadnavis emerged as the frontrunner for the CM's post overcoming challenge from other veterans including Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde.
Gadkari had earlier in the day met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the latter's residence and spent about half an hour with him to discuss the party's strategy ahead.
He later arrived in Nagpur to hold discussions with the RSS top brass on the BJP options ahead. RSS is keen that the saffron forces should united but have left it to the BJP to decide.
BJP may keep Shiv Sena, NCP away while forming Maharashtra govt
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who as and party observer was expected to arrive in Mumbai along with senior colleague JP Nadda to crown the next Maharashtra chief minister, today postponed his visit for the second time in a row and will now come down next week.
"I am not going today. I may go to Mumbai after Diwali," Rajnath Singh told media persons in New Delhi, extending the nail-biting suspense in the state since the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the 13th Assembly Elections but fell short of simple majority.
The state BJP - already assured of unconditional external support from the Nationalist Congress Party - has decided to continue its independent efforts to cobble up at least a minority government.
It has contacted over a dozen of the 18 independents or newly-elected legislators from small and regional parties who have got single-digit representation in the new House.
Senior party leaders are claiming that with the support of these independents and smaller or regional parties, the BJP could stake claim to form a minority government.
BJP sources also say that later, with the support of the NCP and the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi`s three legislators, it would easily sail through the vote-of-confidence in the legislature.
On its part, the Shiv Sena has also adopted a `wait-and-watch` attitude while expressing readiness to sit in the opposition if the BJP failed to come up with an acceptable proposal for alliance.
In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP and allies secured 123 seats, the Shiv Sena got 63, Congress managed 42, the NCP won 41 and the remaining seats were bagged by either independents or smaller and regional parties. A party needs 145 seats for simple majority in the state Assembly.