As suspense over the Maharashtra Chief Minister lingers, Deputy caretaker Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has made a massive revelation ahead of the swearing-in ceremony scheduled to be held on December 5. Ever since the Maharashtra Assembly election results were declared, the Mahayuti alliance entered a deadlock over the CM’s choice, which has delayed the government formation and led to speculations about possible rifts between the allies.
After a key meeting with Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis at Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence and on Thursday night, the Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar on Saturday revealed what was discussed in Delhi. He said the Mahayuti will form the new government with the Chief Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Deputy CMs from the Shiv Sena and NCP.
“During the meeting (Delhi meeting of Mahayuti leader) it was decided that Mahayuti will form the government with CM from BJP and the remaining two parties will have DCMs… This is not the first time there has been a delay… If you remember, in 1999, one month was taken for government formation,” he said.
Earlier today, the Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced that the new Mahayuti government will be sworn in at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on the evening of December 5 in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence.
Despite the announcement of the venue and date of the oath-taking ceremony, there has been no announcement yet on who would be the chief minister.
However, it is being said that Devendra Fadnavis, who has been chief minister twice and was deputy CM in the last Eknath Shinde-led government, was the frontrunner for the top post.
The Mahayuti comprising of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and NCP headed by Ajit Pawar, registered a massive victory in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, with the BJP alone winning 132 seats. The Shiv Sena and NCP won 57 and 41 seats, respectively.