Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday offered to resign from his post of the deputy chief minister after the saffron party fared badly in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP’s tally in Maharashtra dropped drastically from 23 seats in 2019 to just nine this year. The vote share stood at 26.18%.

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Fadnavis, who has been a key figure in the state’s BJP leadership, took full responsibility for the party’s electoral setback.

“I want to work at the organisational level to improve the performance of the party in the ensuing assembly elections. I want to devote my full time to strengthening the organisation. I am going to request my central leadership to free me from the responsibility of the post in the state government,” he told a press conference after a review meeting on the Lok Sabha results.

Talking about his party’s performance, he noted, “Farmers’ issues played a dominant role in some seats. Also, the false propaganda that the Constitution would be altered impacted some voters. The outright votes of Muslims and the Maratha movement also had an impact.”

Fadnavis also congratulated Narendra Modi for winning his third term.

“I thank the people of the country who allowed Modiji (PM Narendra Modi) to take oath as the Prime Minister for the third time. The NDA performed well in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh as well. I thank people for that,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the INDIA bloc, he added, “The BJP alone has gained more seats than the INDIA bloc. The propaganda that the Constitution would be changed was disseminated by them. We needed to curb it which we could not.”

The meeting was attended by top BJP leaders, including state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) put up a good show. The MVA collectively won 30 seats, marking a substantial gain for the alliance.

The Congress saw a remarkable increase too, winning 13 seats compared to just one in 2019. Shiv Sena (UBT) secured nine seats, while the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) secured eight.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that they had fought elections collectively and the defeat was a collective responsibility.

The BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time since the BJP swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own.

Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde-led government on June 30, 2022