Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday thanked ally Eknath Shinde for stating that the decision of the top BJP leadership on the next chief minister of the state will be acceptable to him.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur soon after Shinde, at present a caretaker chief minister, made clear his stand, Bawankule slammed the opposition for trying to spread rumours and cast aspersions on Shinde's character.
"I want to thank Shinde. He today made clear his stand on the chief minister's post. He has taken an important stand. I am proud of him," the BJP leader said. Bawankule also praised Shinde for his commitment to Maharashtra's progress, highlighting his role in the completion of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway. "He took a lot of effort for the betterment of Maharashtra. He did a good job as chief minister," Bawankule added. Shinde, as a Shiv Sena leader, must have felt a lot of pain when Uddhav Thackeray, then head of the united Shiv Sena, severed his alliance with the BJP in 2019, he said. As CM, Shinde demonstrated the true power of a "double-engine" government, Bawankule added. He also lauded Shinde's willingness to collaborate and prioritise the state's development over personal ambitions. "Whatever we asked as an ally, he accepted our demands and respected our expectations," the BJP leader said. Congress, which is part of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), had eight candidates for the CM post before the elections, he said. "MVA constituents were contesting elections to become CM, and we were fighting for the betterment of 14 crore people of Maharashtra," he said.