BJP's Fadnavis takes oath as Maharashtra CM again, NCP's Ajit Pawar his deputy
Mumbai: In an early morning twist, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the second consecutive term while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
After the oath ceremony, Fadnavis said: “People had given us a clear mandate, but Shiv Sena tried to ally with other parties after results, as a result President's rule was imposed. Maharashtra needed a stable government not a 'khichdi' government.”
“From result day to this day no party was able to form government. Maharashtra was facing many problems including farmer issues, so we decided to form a stable government,” Ajit Pawar said.
The President's Rule was revoked at 5:47 am today, according to an official statement.
The notification revoking President's rule in Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/JSbAIOFUE6
— ANI (@ANI) November 23, 2019
While the development derailed the Shiv Sena’s quest for chief ministership, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi described it as surreal.
Surreal wht I read abt #Maharashtra. Thought it was fake news. Candidly &personally speaking, our tripartite negotiations shd not have gone on for more than 3 days...took too long. Window given was grabbed by fast movers. #pawarji tussi grt ho! Amazing if true, still not sure
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) November 23, 2019
The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.
Earlier, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed that there was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the alliance government.
The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.
Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state.
The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member Assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.
