Mumbai: A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Saturday said that the new Mahayuti alliance government in Maharashtra will be formed on December 5 and Devendra Fadnavis is the frontrunner to become the next Chief Minister.
In the assembly elections held on November 20 in Maharashtra, the grand alliance of BJP, Eknath Nishde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power by winning 230 out of 288 seats. BJP emerged as the largest party by winning 132 seats, while Shiv Sena won 57 and NCP 41 seats.
However, even after the announcement of election results on November 23, no decision has been taken on who will be the Chief Minister. Nisde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J.K. late on Thursday night to talk about an agreement on forming the next government in Maharashtra. Had met P. Nadda and Union Minister Amit Shah.
The important meeting of the Mahayuti, scheduled for Friday, was postponed after Caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Nishde left for his native village in Satara district, which is now likely to be held? It will happen on Sunday.
The BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said that the swearing in of the new government will take place on December 5.
The BJP leader said that senior party leader Fadnavis is the frontrunner for the post of Chief Minister. Another senior BJP leader said that the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister will be held at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai. But before that, on December 2, there will be a meeting to elect the leader of the BJP legislature party.
Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support the decision of the BJP leadership regarding the next Chief Minister and will not become an obstacle in the process. At the same time, Ajit Pawar-led NCP has supported Fadnavis for the post of Chief Minister.
The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has suffered a major setback in the assembly elections. The Congress made its worst performance in the state assembly elections, winning only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) could win only 10 seats, while Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats.