Maharashtra caretaker CM Eknath Shinde said that Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar and he would attend a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Thursday where a discussion would be held on the next CM.

Amid the deadlock over who will become the next Maharashtra chief minister after the Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the state, caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday announced that the Shiv Sena would accept and support the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue and that there would be “no obstacle” from their side.

"I spoke to the prime minister and the home minister and said that there will be no obstacle from our side in government formation. Modi ji is the leader of the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] and I said that whatever their decision is and whoever their CM candidate is, the Shiv Sena will fully support him," Shinde said, addressing the media at his residence in Thane.

Shinde said the meeting Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, and himself will hold with Shah in New Delhi on Thursday would take up the matter for a discussion.

"I am an open-minded person. For me, ladla (dear) brother post is greater than any other. I am not one who would hold on to the government-formation process.". I rang PM Modi yesterday and said I am not going to become a bottleneck in forming a government. I said whatever will be the decision of you, as supreme leader of NDA and Mahayuti, that decision will be acceptable to us. I told him Eknath Shinde should not become a problem for the PM. We completely endorse whatever decision would be taken by the PM," said Shinde.

Indicating that he was ready to move out of the chief ministership, Shinde stated his party would also accept the decision of the BJP on the post. "The Shiv Sena will support the BJP and PM Modi's decision. I spoke to Union minister Amit Shah as well as PM Modi about it and conveyed the decision of supporting their decision on the CM post," he said.

Shinde thanked the people of the state for Mahayuti’s “landslide” victory in the Assembly polls and said that he never considered himself as chief minister but believed that he worked like a common man. Shinde said that he could launch and implement welfare schemes in the past two and a half years because he came from a poor family of farmers and was aware of the issues faced by the farmers, women, and the marginalised poor.
"I never considered myself as CM but as a common man.". As my family was from a very poor background, I took all decisions with the welfare of the farmers, women, and other poor people in my mind. I am satisfied with my 2.5-year tenure. PM Modi and Amit Shah ji stood behind me like a rock during my tenure. We were able to do rapid fast-track development in the past 2.5 years because the state and Centre had the same government," he said.

Shinde claimed that he was not a position worker and neither was one who would sulk or even be unhappy about not being in any position. "We are the ones who are known to fight and dedicate (ourselves) to the service of people till my last drop of blood. People saw in me a CM from their own family. I earned the tag of 'Janata's CM' and common man," he said.