NEW DELHI, Nov 30: The next Maharashtra Chief Minister will be from BJP, probably Devendra Fadnavis, Nationalist Congress Party ally Ajit Pawar said on Saturday, while the state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced that the swearing-in ceremony of the new government would take place on December 5 at 5 pm at Mumbai’s iconic Azad Maidan.
Mr Pawar said there would be two Deputy Chief Ministers from the alliance partners. Ajit Pawar’s NCP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP are the three partners in the Mahayuti alliance. The BJP emerged the single largest party in the state polls with 132 seats. Mr Pawar’s party won 41 seats while Eknath Shinde, the caretaker Chief Minister, secured 57 seats. Together the three parties won 230 seats in the 288-member assembly, well above the majority mark of 145.
“During the meeting (Delhi meeting of Mahayuti leaders) it was decided that Mahayuti will form the government with Chief Minister from the BJP and the remaining two parties will have Deputy Chief Ministers,” said Mr Pawar.
On the question of delay in forming the government – the Maharashtra Assembly term ended on November 26 – Mr Pawar said, “This is not the first time there has been a delay… If you remember, in 1999, one month was taken for government formation.” Six days into the declaration of the poll results, the BJP has not yet called a meeting of its MLAs-elect nor appointed the party’s legislature party leader.
Mr Bawankule said the swearing-in ceremony would be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had credited “Ek hain toh safe hain (together, we are safe)” call for unity for the Maharashtra verdict. Earlier this week, Eknath Shinde, the outgoing Chief Minister, said he would not be an “obstacle” and go by the decision of the BJP Central leadership regarding the top post. This effectively cleared the way for Devendra Fadnavis, who has been Chief Minister twice and was deputy Chief Minister in the last Eknath Shinde-led government.
(Manas Dasgupta)
