Fadnavis' offer to quit as deputy CM not discussed in NDA meeting, says Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Friday said that the offer of Devendra Fadnavis to resign as deputy chief minister over the BJP’s poor performance in the state was not discussed at the NDA meeting in Delhi.

Key BJP allies -- TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar -- on Friday endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance with a message to balance regional aspirations and national interests.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Ajit Pawar, whose NCP won a seat in the Lok Sabha elections, said the offer by Fadnavis to quit as Deputy CM is an internal matter of the BJP and there was no reason for it to be discussed at the NDA meeting in Delhi.

After the BJP’s tally in Maharashtra fell from 23 in last general elections to 9 in the 2024 polls, top RSS leaders had met Fadnavis at his residence in Nagpur to discuss the post-poll scenario.

BJP’s ally Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde has won seven of the 15 seats it contested, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP could manage just one of the four it contested of the 48 seats in the state.

A day after the election results, Fadnavis had announced that he would like to step down as Deputy CM and take on more organisational responsibilities to 'strengthen the BJP' ahead of the assembly polls due in less than six months.