Devendra Fadnavis to lead Mahayuti govt? Eknath Shinde resigns as CM

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is meeting with Maharashtra Governor C.P.Radhakrishnan reportedly to stake claim for formation of the next government. Fadnavis was accompanied by CM Eknath Shinde and NCP (AP) leader and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar during the meeting.

As per reports, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is unlikely to lead the next government. Fadnavis met with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Amit Shah and J.P Nadda on Monday and the leadership has firmly backed him for the CM post.

Meeting governor, Shinde tendered his resignation from the chief minister’s post and the governor advised him to continue as caretaker CM until the swearing-in ceremony of the new government.

The BJP’s drubbing comes as Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) faction leaders are insisting the alliance partners to make Shinde chief minister again. Hinting he is vacating the chief minister’s chair, in a cryptic post, the Maharashtra chief minister advised party workers not to congregate at Varsha bungalow, the official residence of Maharashtra CM, to congratulate him for Mahayuti’s landslide victory in the assembly polls.

There were reports that Shinde had staked a claim for the top post, considering that it was his leadership that led the coalition towards the stunning win. He also claimed the trump card, Ladki Bahin Yojana, was his brainchild.

As per the winning tally, both the BJP and Nationalist Congress Party  (Ajit Pawar) factions have won sufficient numbers to form the government without Eknath Shinde’s support. In the election held to the 288-seat assembly, the winning alliance needs to win 145 seats to form a government. While the BJP won 132 seats in the recent assembly elections, Shiv Sena and NCP emerged victorious on 57 and 41 seats, respectively.