Putting to rest all speculation as to who will be Maharashtra’s next chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis has stated that he would be back for a second term after the state Assembly election.

Mumbai: Putting to rest all speculation as to who will be Maharashtra’s next chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis has stated that he would be back for a second term after the state Assembly election.

The post has been a bone of contention betw-een the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena, and leaders from both parties have spoken out of turn on the subject.

Mr Fadnavis’ statement, which was made to BJP office-bearers during a state executive meeting at the NESCO Centre in Goregaon on Sunday, assumed significance as the Sena had recently claimed that its leader Aaditya Thackeray, also the chief of the Yuva Sena wing, would be the next chief minister.

On the thorny subject of whether a BJP leader or Shiv Sainik would be the next chief minister, he said, “We should not delve into this controversy. The people will decide who will be their chief minister. Therefore, the-re is no need to worry.”

Chiding the media for turning to leaders who make controversial statements as it needs controversies to run its twenty-four-hour news channels, the chief minister said both his party and his alliance partners have such leaders.

“We have done a lot of work in the past five years that speaks for itself. Therefore, we should not fall into this trap,” he said adding, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Bhai Shah, Uddhav Thackeray, the state president and I will sit together and decide (the chief minister issue).”

Declaring that his party would contest the Assem-bly poll with the Sena, the CM also said that he was not only the chief minister of the BJP but that of the Sena, RPI and RSP.

He further added that there was no need for speculation as the saffron party was going to contest the election with its allies. “It will be decided soon who will contest which seats,” he said.

“I am saying this as someone may wonder why he or she should work hard if his or her seat would go to someone from the alliance. There are no seats that can go to the alliance and come to us at the same time. Therefore, we will have to contest the election with our allies,” Mr Fadnavis added.

He also said that when the country becomes a five trillion dollar economy, Maharashtra would have a big share in it.

Last month, the Shiv Sena had claimed that the BJP had agreed to rotate the CM’s post while inking a pact for the Lok Sabha election.

Furthermore, senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday stirred up a hornet’s nest by reiterating that his party will bag the chief minister’s post after the Assembly poll.