Fadnavis to take oath as Maharashtra CM shortly, suspense over Shinde's role continues
Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said all elected party MLAs went to Eknath Shinde to convince him to join the new Maharashtra government.
Devendra Fadnavis will shortly be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra at Mumbai's Azad Maidan. But ahead of the ceremony, all eyes are on caretaker CM and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and what role he will assume in the new government. While senior Shiv Sena leaders claim that Shinde will take oath as the deputy CM today, they have added the caveat that none of their MLAs will be part of the new government if that does not happen.
The speculation has also been fuelled by several BJP leaders rushing to Shinde's residence in Mumbai ahead of the oath taking ceremony.
The formation of the new government comes after two weeks of intense negotiations between parties in the Mahayuti alliance, which emphatically won the assembly elections.
Together with allies Shiv Sena and NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.
Since the announcement of the results, the debate has focused on who will be the next Maharashtra Chief Minister - with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde both eyeing the post.
But BJP's central leadership decided to go ahead with Fadnavis as the CM, with Eknath Shinde and NCP's Ajit Pawar being offered deputy CM posts, sources said.
But Shinde has not officially confirmed yet whether or not he will be taking oath today with Fadnavis.
Shiv Sena leaders confident
Senior Sena leader Uday Samant said all ministers went to Eknath Shinde on Wednesday to convince him to join the new Maharashtra government. Samant said he and others told Eknath Shinde to join as deputy chief minister or else they won't take posts in the new cabinet.
"All the MLAs of Shiv Sena met Eknath Shinde last evening and requested him to be a part of Maharashtra cabinet and accept the post of deputy CM," Samant said.
Another party leader Sanjay Shirsat also echoed the sentiment saying that all newly elected Shiv Sena MLAs want Eknath Shinde to take oath as Deputy Chief Minister.
"Eknath Shinde will listen to our request and he will take oath as Deputy CM, we believe that. He is our leader and we want him to take the oath as Deputy CM. We all are going to Eknath Shinde, we will convince and get him ready for the oath-taking," Shirsat told ANI ahead of Wednesday's meeting.
On Wednesday, Fadnavis, with Shinde and Ajit Pawar, met Governor Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form a government, presenting letters of support from the coalition partners. Before that, Fadnavis was elected as leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting on Wednesday morning.
The swearing-in ceremony will have 42,000 attendees, BJP leader Prasad Lad had said earlier. Besides PM Modi, several Union ministers and chief ministers and deputy CMs of various states will attend the event, he said. Special arrangements have been made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters and a separate seating arrangement made for 2,000 VVIPs, including leaders from various religions, he said. More than 4,000 police personnel have been deployed for security, officials said.
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