Mumbai: Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who was disappointed at being denied a second term as chief minister despite leading the Mahayuti alliance to victory in the 2024 assembly polls, on Saturday hinted at his desire to return to the top post.
At a Navratri celebration in Dombivli, after a priest prayed for Shinde’s return as chief minister, the Shiv Sena chief said, “Prayers offered to the goddess come true and wishes are fulfilled.”
Devendra Fadnavis was named chief minister, leaving Shinde upset. Several leaders from his party subsequently claimed on several occasions that he could return to the top post. Garba programmes at the venue were cancelled on account of the drought situation in Maharashtra, and a special prayer, known as garhane, was offered to the goddess, as per Konkani custom, seeking relief from the drought. The priest leading the prayer wished that Shinde should become chief minister again while his son and MP Shrikant Shinde should rise to a higher position.
The Mahayuti alliance contested the 2024 assembly election under the leadership of then chief minister Eknath Shinde, and he was confident that he would get a second term as chief minister. But after the BJP won 132 seats, it denied another term to Shinde, whose party Shiv Sena bagged only 57 seats. In August, Rajya Sabha MP Jyoti Waghmare said that all beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin scheme, which was launched in the run-up to the 2024 assembly polls, wanted to see Shinde as chief minister again.
In the last week of September, Sena legislators Chandrakant Raghuwanshi and Ravindra Dhangekar said that Shinde could return as chief minister if Fadnavis joined the union cabinet. On Saturday, Shinde attended the Navratri celebrations in Dombivli organised by the Dr Shrikant Shinde Foundation and Shri Navdurga Yuva Mandal.
Reacting to the prayer, Shinde in his speech said that offering a garhane was an age-old tradition in the Konkan region. “Prayers offered to the goddess come true and wishes are fulfilled,” he said, indicating that he was keen to return to the top post again.
