In an indirect snub to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Rural Development minister Pankaja Munde on Monday claimed that the people wanted to see her occupy the top post of the state.

"I do not know if I will become the chief minister. But whenever I attend a function, people feel had 'saheb' (her father, late BJP leader Gopinath Munde) been alive, he would definitely have become the chief minister. This is the feeling people have towards him," Munde said while addressing a gathering in Pune.

"Even people from other political parties feel that I should be the chief minister. I do not know if I will become one, but my true strength lies in people's feeling that I should be the chief minister.

"I do not know if I will ever get to sit on that chair. Saheb (Munde) too did not get to occupy the chair. But he will forever occupy that chair in the hearts of people. This is what he earned through years of hardwork," she said, adding, people often compared her with her father and wanted her to become the chief minister.

Pankaja was one of the aspirants among the state BJP leaders for the top post before the Assembly elections, relying on the "public sentiment" following her father's death in a car crash in June last year.