Eknath Shinde takes charge as Maharashtra chief minister
Eknath Shinde on Thursday, June 30 took oath as the Maharashtra chief minister, with support from BJP. The Shiv Sena MLA and auto union leader had rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray for allegedly not following the ideals of party founder and the latter’s father, Balasaheb Thackeray.
The BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, who served a five-year term as chief minister before Uddhav Thackeray, was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.
The rumour over the last few hours had been that BJP will not allow Shinde the chief ministerial post and that Fadnavis will return as the chief minister. However, surprising everybody, after Fadnavis and Shinde staked claim to form the government after meeting Governor Koshiyari at the Raj Bhavan, the former declared to the press that Shinde will be the next chief minister. Moreover, he said he will be staying out of the government.
However, further surprise was in store. The National President JP Nadda said that the party’s central leadership had requested Fadnavis to become the deputy chief minister, followed by Union Home Minister (and former BJP president) Amit Shah announcing that Fadnavis had accepted Nadda’s proposal.
The question remains as to which party Eknath Shinde and his rebel MLAs belong to. Uddhav Thackeray has said that he is the head of the real Shiv Sena. The question would ultimately need to be decided by the Central Election Commission, which decided on allocating party symbols.
