Maharashtra’s fate to be decided in Delhi as Fadnavis meets BJP’s top-leadership

Although the Mahayuti recorded a landslide victory in the state Assembly election, the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP are tangled in a conundrum over the chief minister’s post.

Meanwhile, Devendra Fadnavis arrived in Delhi on Monday to meet the BJP’s central leadership, including Home Minister Amit Shah, to finalise the cabinet ministry formula and the chief minister’s post.

Although the chorus is growing within Shiv Sena for Shinde to continue as the chief minister, BJP leaders and cadres want Fadnavis to be the next chief minister to start his 3.0 innings.

In the case of NCP, a section of the party is strongly making a pitch for Ajit Pawar to take over as the state chief minister.

Amongst the internal turmoil, MahaYuti’s outgoing CM Eknath Shinde resigned from his post on Tuesday and submitted his resignation to Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan at Raj Bhavan.

Shinde will continue as caretaker chief minister till the new CM takes oath.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena legislators have already elected Shinde as the state legislature party group leader, authorising him to make all decisions regarding the government formation.

Similarly, NCP legislators elected Ajit Pawar as the state legislature party group leader. The NCP has also announced its support for Fadnavis as the chief minister.

Notably, MahaYuti outperformed their opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Assembly polls by winning 234 of the total 288 seats. Of these, the BJP secured 132 seats, Shiv Sena (Shinde) won 57 seats, and the NCP won 41 seats.

(With inputs from syndicated feed)

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Fadnavis likely to Maharashtra’s next CM, Ajit Pawar, Shinde to be deputies