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Union minister for transport and shipping Nitin Gadkari interacts with Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadnavis on the occasion of Diwali at the party office in Nagpur. (TOI file photo)

Shah's warnings ignored

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The confusion over who will be Maharashtra's next chief minister deepened on Saturday with two senior leaders defying Delhi's order to not air their views on the matter.While Sudhir Mungantiwar , who had started the debate last week by bringing up his mentor and Union minister Nitin Gadkari 's name, on Saturday once again called Gadkari the unanimous choice of the state unit, in Jalgaon Eknath Khadse's supporters took out a morcha demanding his elevation to the top post.Mungantiwar, who was upbraided on the last occasion for breaking party discipline, this time over added an element of guerrilla warfare by claiming that Devendra Fadnavis , himself a contender, also supports Gadkari's candidature.Both Gadkari and Khadse, who were asked by BJP chief Amit Shah to lie low and let the party decide the CM, on Saturday made no effort to clear the air. Gadkari, in fact, spoke to the press after meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Nagpur, but chose not to react to Mungantiwar's statement, describing his meeting with Sangh head, for which he had arrived riding a scooter, a courtesy call.Khadse, who met some members of the morcha at his residence, refused to speak to the press. His supporters believe that since Maharashtra has never had a chief minister from Khandesh - comprising Jalgaon, Nandurbar, and Dhule districts - Khadse should be given a chance to lead the new government this time.It's clear that the Gadkari group, and now Khadse's supporters too, have decided to ignore Shah's warnings. BJP sources said that this kind of powerplay and lobbying is unprecedented in the BJP and goes against the party's culture. "Right since the day the results were announced, there has been a sense of confusion and unrest in the state BJP. This is not the BJP's style of functioning. It has brought to fore the deep infighting within the party. Also, it looks like the state leaders are not keen to go along with the leadership's CM choice," said a senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be identified.BJP sources also indicated that while Fadnavis remained the frontrunner, the party has not yet taken a formal decision. "This kind of lobbying and power play shows that the party leadership has not taken a call. Had they actually decided on Fadnavis, they wouldn't have tolerated all this. State leaders like Mungantiwar would have been asked to shut up. However, that hasn't happened. The race is still on and everyone seems to be in the reckoning," a BJP source said.A section of BJP leaders said that the muscle-flexing by Gadkari loyalists came in spite of clear indications of the party leadership preferring Fadnavis for the top job was interpreted as an act of insubordination and has not gone down well with the leadership.While Fadnavis also met Bhagwat on Friday, he refused to speak to the press.The BJP on Saturday appointed Kolhapur MLC Chandrakant Patil to mediate with Shiv Sena. While no formal appointment has been made, party sources said that Patil will talk to Sena's Anil Desai and Subhash Desai try to persuade them to join the government.According to BJP sources, when Desai went to Delhi to meet senor BJP leaders last week, he met Patil. Patil is a low profile leader and is known to be close to the party's central leadership.Meanwhile, Sena MPs have decided to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Diwali dinner for NDA constituents. However, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will not attend the dinner.BJP sources also said the first BJP CM of the state will head a lean team of ministers. In keeping with Modi's concept of 'minimum government, maximum governance', the ministry may comprise 25 to 30 members.