MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde said on Wednesday that there is no lobbying for the CM's post within Mahayuti, which has not named its candidate for the top slot in the Maharashtra assembly elections . "Getting Mahayuti back into power is our only priority. We are working as a team.
So, there is no clamour for the CM's post. Becoming CM is not my target," Shinde told TOI in an exclusive interview. Though Mahayuti was dented badly in Maharashtra in the LS polls, CM Shinde is banking on his welfare schemes and the emphasis on infrastructure projects to win the elections for the governing alliance.
Shinde's Shiv Sena is contesting 85 of the 288 seats, an arrangement that the CM said he is satisfied with. "The Mahayuti will have a very good strike rate and it will come to power with full majority," he added. The CM said a 'fake' narrative about a threat to the Constitution worked for the opposition in the Lok Sabha polls, but it was no longer getting any traction.
He was confident that the performance of the state govt, its quick decision-making and sops like Ladki Bahin will yield results for Mahayuti. Shinde described as 'fake narrative' the allegation that industries went out of Maharashtra during his regime. "Lakhs of crores of rupees have come in as investment.
In India, 52% has come to Maharashtra alone in FDI. We are number one in GDP and even in start-ups." When asked on reports of tussle between him and his two deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar .