Mumbai:The BJP is expected to appoint an observer in the next 48 hours to oversee the election process of the legislative party leader in Maharashtra, who will also become the chief minister. Devendra Fadnavis’s name is likely to be proposed by the newly elected BJP MLAs for the post.
A senior BJP leader said that the swearing-in ceremony would be held at the Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai on December 1 or 2. “Prior to this, the party will hold a meeting of the newly elected legislators to elect their leader,” he said.
Fadnavis along with current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP chief Ajit Pawar met Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday to discuss the formula of power sharing. Shah is also expected to formally finalise the name of the next chief minister.
A source claimed that Shah would also finalise names of the BJP ministers with Devendra Fadnavis. “Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, Ashish Shelar, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Sanjay Kute, Parinay Phuke, Devyani Pharande, Ashok Uike, Praveen Darekar and Sanjay Upadhay among others are likely to take oath of the office in the next government,” the source said.
According to the source, Shiv Sena has demanded key portfolios of Home and Urban Development, which were with the BJP in the last government. “We can’t give up the Home department as the party has kept this department whenever we were in power. We are ready to leave our claim on the urban development department for the Shiv Sena but not the home department in any case,” the BJP leader said.
