Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday hailed the BJP-led Mahayuti’s strong performance in the assembly elections, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and all workers of the alliance.
As per official Election Commission (EC) trends, the Mahayuti is set to form the government, with the BJP leading in 130 seats, followed by its allies Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), leading in 55 and 40 seats, respectively.
Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, an ecstatic Shinde said, “I thank all the workers of Mahayuti. PM Modi, Amit Shah bhai, Nadda ji – all supported us. They gave priority to Maharashtra. I am proud that I have been proven right about what I had said that we will win 200 seats. We (Mahayuti) fought like a team…”
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya also lauded the Mahayuti’s performance, asserting that people have supported PM Modi’s “Ek hai toh safe hai” call.
He said, “People slammed ‘land jihad, love jihad, and vote jihad’ and supported PM Modi’s ‘Ek hai toh safe hai’… Uddhav Thackeray’s army betrayed the people of Maharashtra in 2019… All the BJP leaders are very happy. Under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP has achieved a historic victory in Maharashtra with the blessings of PM Narendra Modi.”
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale also thanked the people of Maharashtra for the big victory and gave its credit to PM Modi’s development works.
“People have voted in large numbers in favour of Mahayuti, and we have got over 200 seats, so this is a big victory for us. I express my gratitude to the people of Maharashtra. The reason for the victory is the development role of PM Modi and the decisions taken by the Maharashtra government in the last 2.5 years… We are confident that we can get up to 225-230 seats,” Athawale said.
Meanwhile, posters depicting BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister have surfaced in Washim city.
Fadnavis, widely seen as the frontrunner for the CM’s post following BJP’s strong show, is currently leading from the Nagpur South West constituency by 24,593 votes over Congress candidate Prafulla Vinodrao Gudadhe.
With the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) struggling in the state, leading in only 19 seats each, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) trailing with 14 seats, the Mahayuti alliance is poised for a landslide victory.
