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Updated: Jun 09, 2020 05:49 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest the Maharashtra assembly elections in partnership with ally Shiv Sena though it could have won on its own, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday. But the chief minister indicated that the Shiv Sena shouldn’t expect the chief minister’s post.

The clear message from Fadnavis comes weeks after the Shiv Sena’s Aditya Thackeray, who might be the first from the Thackeray family to contest elections, underscored that equitable sharing of power and post “includes all posts and power”.

In an interview to Hindustan Times, Fadnavis described the 29-year-old Sena leader as an upcoming youth leader who understands issues and is keen to work. ”We need a new leadership in the state. I see this positively,” the chief minister said.

Quite like Fadnavis who is on 24-day Mahajanadesh Yatra across the state, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya had also embarked on a shorter, 5-day Jan Ashirwad Yatra.

Fadnavis did not elaborate on Aditya Thackeray’s plunge in electoral politics. But on the increasingly louder pitch within the Sena projecting the young leader as the party’s presumptive chief minister, Fadnavis said he had already hinted the BJP’s stand when the BJP-Sena partnership ahead of the national elections was announced.

Fadnavis was referring to his statement that the alliance partners will share the posts equitably.

“You can read in between the lines...As far as who will be the CM, I am sitting right here in front of you,” he said.

Fadnavis asserted that he did offer the deputy chief minister’s post to the Shiv Sena when he last tweaked his council of ministers. “But they did not take up the offer,” Fadnavis added.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena have interpreted the equitable distribution of power and seat sharing formula differently. While BJP leaders insist equal power sharing refers to equal splitting of ministerial portfolios and deputy chief minister’s post for the Sena, the latter says it refers to equal ministerial berths and split in CM’s tenure between the two parties.

But there have been indications that neither side might just yet push the envelope too hard on the chief minister’s post, not before the elections are completed and the results are out.

Fadnavis said the Sena and the BJP would contest from an equal number of seats after setting aside some seats for the smaller allies. “In this, we will keep the seats we have won and vice-versa. Some seats we may swap. The seat-sharing agreement will be announced by the end of this month,” he said in the interview.

For the national elections, the BJP had contested on 25 seats and the Sena, 23.

Also read | BJP, Sena to discuss seat-sharing soon