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Maharashtra New CM: Devendra Fadnavis has been elected the leader of BJP Legislative Party unanimously
Maharashtra New CM: Devendra Fadnavis (Image: PTI)
Maharashtra Government Formation: In his first remarks after becoming the Maharashtra Chief Minister-elect, Devendra Fadnavis thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trusting him with the post of head of state thrice. He said last month’s assembly polls proved “ek hai toh safe hai” and “Modi hai toh mumkin hai”.
Fadnavis thanked key Mahayuti leaders, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Sinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar, for their relentless efforts and support.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was backstabbed in the previous polls.
He was referring to the October 2019 Maharashtra political crisis, where the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 161 seats, surpassing the majority mark of 145, with BJP securing 105 and Shiv Sena 56. However, Shiv Sena refused to support BJP in forming a government, citing unmet promises for equal power-sharing and a 2.5-year Chief Minister term. This led to a split. Eventually, Shiv Sena formed a new alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi, with NCP and INC, resulting in the formation of a government under Uddhav Thackeray.
“We are proud that not a single MLA left us after 2019 and all stayed together and we formed government in 2022. Today, too, Mahayuti has got historic mandate. I started as a ward-level leader and now I have also become Chief Minister for the third term. PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah both have given huge support and boost to Maharashtra BJP during elections,” he said.
BJP leaders and workers across the state took part in celebrations after Fadnavis was named the party’s legislative party leader unanimously in a key meeting chaired by central observers Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday morning.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Celebrations outside the residence of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, in Nagpur.He has been unanimously elected as the Leader of Maharashtra BJP Legislative Party. pic.twitter.com/cIfDPDN3Tr
— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2024
Expressing happiness over the development, BJP leader Ram Kadam said, there is a Diwali-like atmosphere in Maharashtra due to the selection of Devendra Fadnavis, adding that the party was looking at accomplishing more development works.
According to the latest inputs, Fadnavis will meet Mahayuti leaders, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Aijt Pawar, at the Varsha bungalow at 2 pm to discuss the way forward and portfolios to different leaders. They are likely to meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan to state a claim to form the government in the state.
The BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) and the Nationalist Congress Party, or NCP (Ajit Pawar faction)—together called the Mahayuti—won a resounding mandate in assembly election results on November 23, but power-sharing talks in the alliance led to a delay in the naming of the CM pick.
Devendra Fadnavis will be administered the oath at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on December 5 at 5:30 pm. PM Modi and other prominent BJP leaders are likely to attend the event.
The BJP, which alone won 132 of the state’s 288 seats, wanted Fadnavis as the chief minister, a claim supported by the NCP, which won 41 seats. The Sena, with 57 seats, however, maintained that it was Eknath Shinde who led the Mahayuti to the polls.
News18 reported on Tuesday night that Shinde, who took charge as the Chief Minister in mid-2022 after a political upheaval in the state, relented and accepted to take up a deputy role.
