♛BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as the chief minister on Thursday, December 5. The complete list of ministers will be revealed in the coming days.
ꦏThe suspense over Maharashtra’s next chief minister has ended after Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Mumbai unanimously elected Devendra Fadnavis as the head of the next state government. He will officially take over as the CM of Maharashtra in the swearing-in ceremony on December 5 in the presence of special guest Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
𝓡Amidst chants of ladkya bahinancha ladka bhau, Deva bhau Deva bhau (beloved brother of beloved sisters), in the state legislature hall, Fadnavis accepted the party’s mandate in the core committee meeting, led by union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani. He was also elected as BJP’s Legislative Party Leader.
This will be third term for Fadnavis as the CM. He first held the position as CM in 2014, and was sworn in as the CM for the second time on November 23, 2019, after the BJP ꧒claimed stake to form the government with NCP’s breakaway faction led by Ajit Pawar.
The government lasted for 80 hours, after Pawar returned to the original party and joined hands with Shiv Sena, and Congress 🌞and came to power as part of the Mahavikas alliance government.
💫Prior to the consensus, Maharashtra witnessed high drama over the continuous stand-off between the Mahayuti alliance over government formation.
Fadnavis held a face-to-face meeting with the caretaker CM, Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena, who was also vying for the top post. The two leaders reportedly, reached an agreement over power-sharing agreement at a meeting in CM’s official residence on Tuesday evening, breaking the deadlock over Maharashtra government formation. Shinde is likely to accept the post of deputy CM, alongside alliance partner Ajit Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party.
🐼“We will work together with all our alliance partners. But when we have such a historic and large mandate, we can’t keep everyone happy,” Fadnavis said in an apparent reference to the discontentment simmering among Sena faction. “We have to keep the larger goal in mind. We have not entered politics to become the chief or bag a plum post.”
ꦯThe BJP has emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra securing 132 seats and has further received the support of 5 independent winning candidates taking its tally to 137 seats. Its alliance partners Sena Shinde faction and NCP have won 57 and 41 seats respectively.
ꦜShortly after the results, the Mahayuti partners engaged in a power-sharing tussle, with Shiv Sena demanding Shinde be retained as the CM. Shinde had offered to unconditionally back any candidate chosen by BJP’s top brass, however, Sena leaders said they were dissatisfied with the proposed demotion of Shinde from CM to deputy CM.
🐻As per Sena members, Shinde’s contribution to Mahayuti’s victory was crucial as he was the face of the election campaign. The CM ladki bahin yojana, (beloved sister scheme), providing a monthly allowance of Rs 1500 to marginalised women, was touted as the key factor in helping the alliance clinch victory.
ꦅThe formation of the new government remained in limbo due to disagreements over key portfolios. Shinde Sena was keen on getting home and finance minister portfolios, which are likely to go with the BJP and NCP respectively.
♉Shinde travelled to Delhi for meeting with union home minister and BJP second-in-command Amit Shah, for a breakthrough. Shah reportedly told him that BJP was unlikely to make concessions in the CM post or key portfolios, given the huge margin the party has won in the assembly elections.
꧋Citing poor health, Shinde straight away left for his native village in Satara and remained there until Monday. He was briefly admitted to a hospital in Thane on Tuesday, after which he resumed work as a care taker CM. Sena is likely to get a post of deputy CM and eleven ministeries in the state. NCP has also demanded it be given same number of ministeries as Sena. The final list of ministers is likely to be revealed in the coming days.