Govt formation in Maharashtra: Rajnath to visit Mumbai after Diwali

New Delhi: Home minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Mumbai after Diwali to meet the newly elected BJP MLAs and decide on the leadership issue and government formation in Maharashtra.

"I am not going today. I think I will visit Mumbai after Deepawali," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Singh will visit Mumbai as BJP observer along with senior leader JP Nadda to help the MLAs chose the leader of the BJP legislature party.

Singh and Nadda were supposed to visit Mumbai on Monday as part of the decision of the BJP parliamentary party but they decided to defer the tour.

Asked whether there was any hurdle in the process of electing the BJP legislature party leader, Singh said, "There is no hurdle".

So far, BJP has not taken any decision on the chief minister of Maharashtra.

The name of BJP's Maharashtra chief Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as the possible choice for the chief minister's post overcoming challenge from other veterans including Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde.

Singh, who is said to be close to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, is expected to meet the erstwhile ally.

BJP, which got 123 seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections, needs at least 22 MLAs to reach the halfway mark in the 288-member state assembly.

Shiv Sena won 63 seats. The BJP and Shiv Sena alliance broke down on the eve of the polls on the issue of seat sharing.