Ruling out any possibility of him assuming the role of chief minister of Maharashtra, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said a decision will soon be taken on government formation, adding that since the BJP won a greater number of seats than the Shiv Sena, the chief minister will be from his party.

“BJP is the single largest party and we have chosen Fadnavis as party leader in Maharashtra. It is natural that the CM should be from the largest party. I am sure we will form government in the state with Shiv Sena. Devendra Fadnavis is the choice and he should lead the government. The BJP won 105 seats so the Chief Minister should be from the BJP,” Gadkari said.

He denied reports that he could be the choice for CM’s post. “There is no question of me coming to Maharashtra. I am working in Delhi,” he said.

Although Gadkari has totally denied, but his name has floated around as a possible compromise candidate for Chief Minister if that is what it takes to resolve the deadlock with the Shiv Sena.

Gadkari also said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had no role to play in the government formation and so it was not right to contact and query him over the matter.

“RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or the Sangh have no relation with all this. It won’t be appropriate to link the RSS chief to the goings on (over government formation,” he said.

Today is the deadline to end the stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra. If it doesn’t happen the state will have no option left but to implement President rule.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena won a clear majority in last month’s Maharashtra election, with 105 seats for the BJP and 56 for the Sena. But since the verdict on October 24, government formation has been stalled by the Sena’s demand for a “50:50” deal.

The Sena’s leadership is believed to be deeply upset with Devendra Fadnavis, who has rejected the party’s demand for sharing the chief minister’s post on a rotational basis.