Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's first reaction as Devendra Fadnavis offers to resign as his deputy

Hours after Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis offered to resign from government duties on Wednesday, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a drubbing in Lok Sabha elections in the state, chief minister Eknath Shinde said he would speak to deputy again.

In a statement, Eknath Shinde said “failures must not discourage us and it is a temporary success to try to get votes by misleading the public”.

“I will be speaking to Devendraji soon. We have worked together in the past and we will keep on working in the future. It is a temporary success to try to get votes by misleading the public… We are moving forward with a development agenda. We have collectively failed to counter the false claims of the opposition,” Eknath Shinde said in the statement.

Hitting out at the Opposition, Eknath Shinde said, “The false narrative that the constitution will change, hurt us. The opposition was shouting 'Modi hatao'. Voters, however, people of India kept them away from power”

“Electoral defeat is a collective responsibility. All three parties had worked together in the elections. If you look at the vote share, Mahayuti got more than two lakh votes in Mumbai. In the last two years, the government has taken many good decisions in the state. Although seats have decreased in this election, votes have increased,” the statement added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Devendra Fadnavis said he would request the BJP top leadership to relieve him from government duties so that he could focus on state assembly polls.

He also conceded that the issues of coordination exist with Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP.

"I take full responsibility for the BJP's defeat in Maharashtra. I fell short in some places, and the setback in Maharashtra is my fault. To focus on the next assembly elections and fix the shortcomings, I request the top brass of my party to relieve me of my government duties. I will meet my seniors and communicate my expectations to them," Fadnavis said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Mumbai.

Fadnavis added that he would hold discussions with his seniors and would work as per their guidance.

"There were some issues of coordination with chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, which we will meet and discuss soon," he said.

Devendra Fadnavis move a drama: Congress

The Congress said Fadnavis's offer to resign following the setback suffered by the BJP and allies is "drama", and it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who should quit.

Fadnavis is running an “unconstitutional government” and had publicly stated that he returned to power by breaking up two parties, said state Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe.

How BJP performed in Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections

In Maharashtra, the Mahayuti alliance – comprising BJP, Shiv Sena (led by Eknath Shinde) and NCP (led by Ajit Pawar ) got 17 Lok Sabha seats, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) secured 30 seats of the total 48 seats.

The Congress won 13 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) got nine seats and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won eight seats. The BJP bagged nine seats, the Shiv Sena secured seven seats and the NCP got just one seat, taking the Mahayuti tally to 17 seats.