This Article is From Oct 22, 2014

For Maharashtra Chief Minister, Camp Gadkari Wants In.

Nitin Gadkari being welcomed by supporters on his arrival at Nagpur airport on Tuesday. (Press Trust of India)

New Delhi: Hours after a group of BJP law-makers met Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday, urging him to return from Delhi to lead his home state, the Union minister remained non-committal. "I'm happy in Delhi. We will take a decision about the leadership (in Maharashtra) in the next few days. All I can say now that I'll play whatever role I am given," Mr Gadkari said in Nagpur.

Mr Gadkari had told NDTV in a recent interview that he was not looking to switch jobs. But sources within the BJP say that the lobbying by his supporters reflects a concern that Mr Gadkari could be over-shadowed on his home turf of Nagpur.

With Mr Gadkari and a pool of leaders who want to head the new government appears to be swelling, the BJP's choices seem to be getting problematic in Maharashtra, where it won the most seats but does not have an outright majority.

The front-runner for Chief Minister is widely believed to be Devendra Fadnavis, the 44-year-old president of the BJP in Maharashtra. Like Mr Gadkari, he is from Nagpur. Both politicians owe much of the success in their careers to the powerful backing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, which is the ideological mentor of the BJP, and is headquartered in Nagpur. Both Mr Gadkari and Mr Fadnavis are Brahmins. It's not hard to see why a veteran might feel upstaged, said sources.

Another reported aspirant for Chief Minister, Pankaja Munde, told NDTV after winning her constituency that her heart was no longer in any sort of larger contest for the top job.

Ms Munde's father, Gopinath, one of the BJP's tallest leaders from Maharashtra, died in June while he was union minister. He was known to have a close equation with Mr Fadnavis and an uneasy relationship with Mr Gadkari. It was at the RSS' urging that Mr Fadnavis was chosen last year as the BJP's president in the state. The RSS hoped his appointment would end the bickering between the rival Munde and Gadkari camps.
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