Eknath Shinde is preferred over Devendra Fadnavis for Maharashtra CM, says advertisement citing ‘survey’

Amid growing tensions within Maharashtras ruling parties, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Deputy CM and State BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on June 13 cancelled his visit to Kolhapur district citing medical reasons...

Friction arose between the Mahayuti (translated grand alliance) partners after a newspaper advertisement placed by the Shinde-led Sena cited a survey which claimed Mr. Shinde was more preferred as the States CM than Mr. Fadnavis...

Leaders from the Shinde camp scrambled to downplay any differences between their party and the BJP over the survey while the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) pooh-poohed the governments survey, saying it was laughable that the Shinde camp had deployed an agency to conduct a survey obviously favourable to them...

This survey is not a war over taking credit for somethingit only proves that more than 46% of the Maharashtras public wish to see our government return to power in the next election, Mr. Desai said.. Seeking to downplay any potential schism, BJP State chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said: We [Shinde Sena and BJP] are working as brothers It is not right to interpret this [survey] as Mr. Shinde has gone forward and Mr. Fadnavis has fallen behind...

Terming the survey absurd, senior Congressman Anant Gadgil, who is the partys National Panel Spokesperson, said that if the survey showed that 46% of the electorate approved the BJP-Shinde Sena, then by their own admission 54% of Maharashtras populace had rejected the current government...

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