Amit Shah says BJP open to Shiv Sena deputy CM, but Fadnavis will stay CM

BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has indicated that the party is open to giving its ally the Shiv Sena the post of deputy chief minister in Maharashtra, while making clear that Devendra Fadnavis would remain Chief Minister if the NDA won the state election.

On the top post

In an interview with Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Shah played down Sena statements that the next Chief Minister should be a Shiv Sainik, saying he did not see them as a big threat to the alliance. “It is very clear that Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister,” he said.

Asked about a Sena deputy chief minister, he said Fadnavis and his team would decide along with the BJP parliamentary board, and that all options were open.

On the alliance

Many reports had spoken of strain between the two partners, citing jibes in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, challenges from Sena leaders in Parliament, BJP retorts and drawn-out seat-sharing talks. Shah rejected these, saying workers on both sides wanted their parties to grow and that hard bargaining was a sign of a healthy coalition. He said workers of the two parties had backed each other in the Lok Sabha polls and in the current campaign.

Seat projections

Shah predicted a two-thirds majority for the alliance but declined to give a seat number for the BJP, saying only that it would improve on last time. In 2014, when the two parties fought separately, the BJP won 122 seats, 22 short of a majority, and later joined hands with the Sena. Asked whether the BJP, contesting 164 seats, could form a government alone, Shah said, “Yes, we can go that far. It is not impossible.”

What happened next

In the 2019 election the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. After the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance broke, Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena became Chief Minister in November 2019 with NCP and Congress support.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party and elections.

Originally published on 17 October 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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