Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Sunday hinted that the people of Maharashtra wanted him to remain the chief minister, amid reports that a Bharatiya Janata Party leader may take the top post.

However, he reiterated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would decide on who will head the state government, and that his Shiv Sena grouping would support the decision.

At a press conference in the Satara district, Shinde was asked for his comments about demands that he remain the chief minister. To this, he said: “I was the people’s chief minister. I used to say that the term ‘CM’ does not only mean the chief minister, but the common man. I understood the problems of common people and tried to solve them. So, it is natural for people to have this sentiment.”

Shinde, who is currently Maharashtra’s caretaker chief minister, said that the ruling Mahayuti alliance fought the Assembly election under his leadership. “Both the deputy chief ministers [Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar] and other colleagues were with me,” he said. “We secured a massive victory.”

The Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, the Shiv Sena group led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar won 230 out of 288 seats. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats. The Shinde Sena won in 57 seats and Ajit Pawar’s NCP group won in 41 constituencies.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi – comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the NCP group led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress – won just 46 seats.

On November 27, Shinde had said that he would support whatever decision Modi and Shah would take on the chief minister’s post. “I told PM Modi, Amit Shah that they should not see me as a hindrance,” he had told mediapersons.

The BJP will hold a legislature party meeting on Monday or Tuesday to finalise its pick for the top post, PTI quoted an unidentified party leader as saying. The swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place on December 5 at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.