Billboards showing deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in a Marathi “pheta” (turban) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi behind him have flooded Maharashtra’s cities, obliquely underlining the BJP’s intention of reclaiming the chief minister’s post if the Mahayuti returns to power.

These BJP billboards — which merely show chief minister Eknath Shinde and the second deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, in insets — have dismayed the main allies: Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit’s NCP.

Officially, the ruling Mahayuti has not announced any chief ministerial candidate. It has said the coalition partners will meet to decide the head of the government after the results are declared on November 23.

In private, BJP leaders say their party expects to emerge as the largest partner in terms of seats and stake claimto the top post.

“The billboards have a big picture of Devendra Fadnavis because he is the tallest leader of our party in Maharashtra. As for foregrounding him as the chief ministerial face, well, why not? He has been chief minister and can take up the job again,” a key BJP leader in Mumbai said.

The BJP had installed Fadnavis as chief minister in 2014, putting a Brahmin from RSS headquarters Nagpur in charge of a Maratha-dominated state. He was only the second Brahmin chief minister of Maharashtra, after Manohar Joshi of the Shiv Sena (1995-1999), and his appointment was seen as an experiment by the BJP.

However, after the BJP-Sena alliance returned with a majority in 2019, the Sena dumped the BJP over its demand for the chief minister’s chair and tied up with the Congress and the NCP to secure the top post for party boss Uddhav Thackeray.

The Uddhav government collapsed after a split in the Sena in mid-2022. The BJP then rewarded rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde with the chief minister’s post, and Fadnavis was forced to accept the job of his deputy.

“We cannot continue to part with the chief minister’s chair despite winning the largest number of seats,” a BJP leader said.

He said the party had as a matter of strategy decided not to make an official demand for the top job till the results were declared.

“The Maratha voters could turn away from us if we go out and declare that Fadnavis would be the next chief minister,” the BJP leader said.

He underlined how Maratha quota activist Jarange Patil was accusing Fadnavis of depriving the community of reservation benefits.

Initially, the BJP leadership was in two minds about who to back for the chief minister’s job. But the RSS put its foot down saying no one in the BJP apart from Fadnavis commanded a pan-Maharashtra appeal, insiders said.

Fadnavis has deep roots in the RSS and, like fellow Sangh favourite Nitin Gadkari, is from Nagpur.

But the BJP’s oblique push to secure the chief minister’s chair for Fadnavis has led to tensions within the Mahayuti, with both the Sena and the NCP hoping that Big Brother would not win too many seats.

“We will be happy if the BJP’s seats remain in the range of 70 to 80,” a Sena manager in Mumbai said, hinting that the state could witness another political realignment if the BJP insisted on leading the government.

Officially, the BJP is contesting 148 of the 288 Assembly seats while the Sena is in the fray in 80, the NCP in 56 and the smaller partners in 4. However, the BJP has 17 of its leaders contesting on the symbols of allies. That apart, there are four constituencies where Mahayuti allies are engaged in friendly fights.

“Our internal assessment shows the party might win between 90 and 95 seats,” a BJP leader said.

He suggested that Shinde’s party would win 35 to 40 seats and Ajit’s, 20 to 25.

“Do you think that with 90 seats we will hand the chief minister’s post to Shinde again?” he said.