Eknath Shinde’s 7 & Chirag Paswan’s 5 seats crucial in helping NDA gain majority in Lok Sabha

Mumbai|Delhi: Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, whose seven seats along with Chirag Paswan’s five are going to be crucial in helping the NDA gain majority in the Lok Sabha, could seek from the BJP a “free hand” in governing Maharashtra and greater representation of Shiv Sena leaders in the new government.

Sources close to Shinde told ET that he is expected to tell the BJP leadership that he needs to be given a “free hand” in running the government in Maharashtra. The “free hand” refers to chief minister Eknath Shinde being allowed a cabinet expansion in the state where he could accommodate his party legislators and leaders, sources close to Shinde said.

A cabinet expansion has been pending for a long while, as the BJP and Shiv Sena are not seeing eye-to-eye on cabinet expansion. Shinde would also seek cabinet berths for his Lok Sabha MPs in the new government. “Unlike Nitish or even Chandrababu Naidu, Shinde is a dependable ally. We are not prone to jumping ship or taking things to the breaking point,” said a Shiv Sena leader.


“The BJP needs a dependable ally like us and it cannot do without a good partner in the state. The BJP knows this too, but we also don’t want to be taken for granted.”

Significantly, the Sena leader also said that the BJP should unequivocally project Eknath Shinde as the leader under whom the Assembly polls in October would be fought.

In Bihar, Chirag Paswan’s LJP with five seats will also be key. In the 2020 Assembly elections, Paswan parted ways with the NDA and the LJP contested on its own, winning only one seat. Post the election, his uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, engineered a coup by breaking away five MPs and joining the NDA. While Paras became a Union minister, Chirag Paswan was left alone and kept working to increase his base. He made a comeback to the NDA before Lok Sabha elections and has now won five seats.

While his five seats remain crucial, Paswan has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in the politics of bargain and will continue to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Behind the scenes, Chirag Paswan may, however, bargain for at least two seats. Since he himself has won from Hajipur, he would also be keen to get a ministerial berth for himself.