With the exit polls predicting a sweep for the BJP in Haryana and its best ever performance in Maharashtra, the party is struggling with a plethora of aspirants for the chief minister’s post in both the States.

A senior leader dismissed all claims even as he emphasised that the BJP is getting “absolute majority” in both the States.

“There has been no discussion yet on the chief minister candidate in either State. It is the media that is discussing names,” said the leader.

However, in party circles the name of Maharashtra BJP State unit president Devendra Fadnavis tops the charts for the top job.

Others in the fray include late Union Minister Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde, and Leaders of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and Council, Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde, and former BJP Maharashtra chief Sudhir Mungantiar. However, Fadnavis is believed to be the most talked about name.

This is incidentally the first in a long time when there is even a prospect of a Brahmin occupying the slot in the Maratha-Kunbi dominated State.

In Haryana, State unit chief Ram Bilas Sharma, BJP legislature party leader Anil Vij and the party’s former spokesperson and young leader Captain Abhimanyu are among those who are said to be the prominent contenders for the top post.

Non-Jat CM

The BJP has leaders from other significant castes such as Kishan Pal Gujjar, and the scion of the Rewari dynasty and Ahir/Yadav leader, Rao Inderjeet Singh, who is a Minister of State with independent charge of Planning and Statistics and Programme Implementation at the Centre.

Inderjeet Singh has already announced that the “time has come for Haryana to have a non-Jat Chief Minister”.

The BJP leadership claims no one has so far been picked as the first among the equals.

'In an election contested mainly on the force of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, the central leadership is reserving the right to choose at the last minute.

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