Gadkari refutes speculation of him as next Maharashtra CM

Road Transports Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday dismissed speculations of him being named as the next Maharashtra Chief Minister, saying he will continue to work as a cabinet minister in the central government.

Rebuffing speculation, Gadkari told reporters here, "No question of me returning to Maharashtra. I will continue to work in Delhi."

He reiterated that the government in Maharashtra will be formed under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"Our alliance -- BJP and Shiv Sena -- have got the mandate. A decision will be taken soon (on government formation). As far as BJP is concerned, Devendra Fadnavis Ji will form the government under his leadership as BJP won 105 seats. Hence, the Chief Minister should be from BJP itself," he said.

The BJP and Shiv Sena, who are partners in the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, had fought the assembly polls together on October 21. While the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the recently held elections, it is yet to stake a claim for government formation.

In the assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 105 seats while Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the 288-member Vidhan Sabha.

Even after getting the required numbers to form the government, there has been a delay in cobbling up a coalition owing to differences between the two parties on power-sharing.

Shiv Sena has insisted that the two parties had a '50-50' power-sharing agreement before the elections. But Fadnavis has said that Shiv Sena was not promised the chief ministerial post for two-and-a-half years when the alliance was sealed before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, leading to an impasse over government formation.