The two leaders met ahead of a meeting of the Mahayuti coalition to discuss the fate of the state after a resounding victory in the 2024 assembly elections.

BJP president J P Nadda was present as well during the meeting. Maharashtra Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar later joined them as well at Shah's residence in Delhi. Till the time of this report, the meeting was underway.

Who will be the next CM?

Following the meeting, the name of the new chief minister and his cabinet ministers are expected to be announced on Friday morning.

Amid the ongoing chaos over the next CM face of the state following Mahayuti's resounding poll victory in the 2024 assembly elections, the BJP is tipped to get the chief ministerial post while its two allies, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde Faction) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar Faction), are expected to occupy the post of two deputies.

Speculations are rife that Eknath Shinde may swap his position with Devendra Fadnavis while Ajit Pawar will continue as one of the two deputy chief ministers.

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Will abide by BJP's decision: Shinde

Clearing air over speculations of discontent within the alliance for him for not getting a second term, the Shiv Sena leader and outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today said, "Nobody is annoyed. We have worked as Mahayuti. Our Shiv Sena will fully support the BJP’s decision to name the next Maharashtra CM. There is no speed breaker from our side.”

"I called PM Modi yesterday and also Amit Shah and told them to decide (on who will be the CM post), and assured them that I will abide by whatever decision they take,” Shinde told reporters, as per PTI.

Echoing similar sentiment, Fadnavis also said, "(Eknath) Shinde Saheb, (Deputy CM and NCP leader) Ajitdada Pawar and I are together. There is no dispute in the Mahayuti alliance. Before the elections, we had said that all decisions would be taken jointly with our senior leadership. We will take joint decisions."

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Mahayuti's landslide victory is 2024 polls

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance scripted a landslide win in the state assembly elections by winning 230 seats in the 288-member House.

Recovering from its Lok Sabha election losses, the BJP bagged 132 constituencies followed by Sena with 57 seats and the NCP with 41 seats.

The opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on the other hand suffered a major electoral setback. While Congress registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls with only 16 seats, Sharad Pawar's NCP(SP) won just 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20 seats.

Eknath Shinde on Tuesdya resigned as chief minister on Tuesday. However, Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan urged Shinde to continue as a caretaker CM until the formation of a new government.