NEW DELHI: The Maha political drama over the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra’s Mahayuti finally ended today with Eknath Shinde proposing the name of BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as the next leader of the ruling coalition. However, it is still not clear if Shinde will join the government as deputy chief minister.
It took Shinde 11 days to finally agree to a change of leadership after BJP rejected his demand for a second term as chief minister of the Mahayuti.
Here’s how the drama unfolded after Maharashtra results were announced on November 23.
Read also: ‘At Shah meeting, Shinde asked to be made CM for at least first 6 months’
Mahayuti gets Maha mandate
The people of Maharashtra gave an overwhelming majority to the ruling Mahayuti with the ruling coalition winning 230 seats in the 288-member assembly. The BJP achieved remarkable success securing 132 seats on its own, just 13 less than simple majority. Allies Shiv Sena and NCP also performed exceptionally well winning 57 and 41 seats respectively.
Shinde claims credit for Maha mandate
Immediately after the verdict, chief minister Eknath Shinde attributed the huge electoral success to his government’s performance in the last two and a half years. Shinde claimed that the welfare programmes announced by his government, including the Ladki Bahin scheme, were the gamechangers in the elections. Shiv Sena then started its push for second term to Shinde citing his popularity and governance model.
Read also: How BJP navigated power-sharing talks to bring Eknath Shinde onboard
Shiv Sena cites Bihar model to push for Shinde
The Shiv Sena leaders started an orchestrated campaign for Shinde as chief minister. The party claimed that the BJP had promised to give the top post to Shinde if the Mahayuti won the elections. They put up posters demanding Shinde as leader of Mahayuti and also tweaked PM Modi’s “Ek hain to safe hain” slogan to claim “Ek(nath) hain to safe hain.” Some Sena leaders pitched for Shinde citing the Bihar model where BJP’s junior partner Nitish Kumar is the chief minister of the state.
Shinde relents after four days
After four days of silence, Shinde finally addressed a press conference to announce that he will not be an obstacle in the formation of new government and will accept the decision of Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah on Mahayuti’s chief minister pick. However, he also used the presser to list the achievements of his government and announced that the work done by his government in two and a half years was more than what other governments would do in 10 years. He also called his tenure historic. Shinde also played the victim card and claimed that for him CM meant common man and not chief minister. The Shiv Sena chief cited his humble origins to claim how he as chief minister understood the pains of common man.
Mahayuti leaders meet Amit Shah
A day after Shinde’s climbdown on CM post, the Mahayuti leaders finally met Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda in the national capital on November 28 to discuss the modalities of forming the new government. However, the meeting could not finalise the power sharing agreement and Shinde, Fadavis and Ajit Pawar decided to meet again on November 29 in Mumbai.
Shinde leaves for his native village
However, this scheduled meeting of the three Mahayuti leaders in Mumbai could not take place as Shinde suddenly left Mumbai for his native village in Satara. The Shiv Sena leaders added to the suspense as they gave different reasons for Shinde’s sudden absence from Mumbai. While one leader claimed he was unwell and hence had gone to village to take rest, another Sena leader claimed that Shinde was planning a big decision and hence had gone to his native village.
Read also: Is ‘sulking’ Eknath Shinde delaying govt formation talks
BJP unilaterally announces oath-ceremony date
With Shinde still sulking, the BJP decided to take control and unilaterally announced December 5 as the date for the swearing in of the Mahayuti 2.0 government. The Maharashtra BJP chief announced the date sending out a clear message to Shinde.
Shinde announces second meeting date, returns to Mumbai
A day after BJP’s surprise move, Shinde announced that a meeting of Mahayuti leaders will be held in Mumbai on December 1. Shinde also returned from Satara to Mumbai signalling truce.
Mahayuti meeting cancelled again as Shinde now goes to Thane house
However, the proposed Mahayuti leaders’s meeting had to be cancelled again due to the unavailability of caretaker chief minister Shinde, who decided to go to his Thane residence as per doctor’s advice for rest.
BJP appoints central observers, schedules legislature party meet
The BJP, however, went ahead with its preparations for the swearing in ceremony. It appointed Nirmala Sitharaman and Vijay Rupani as party’s central observers for BJP legislature party meeting on December 4.
Shinde finally returns to Mumbai, meets Fadnavis
Shinde finally returned to Mumbai on December 3 after visiting a hospital in Thane for medical tests. He held a meeting with concerned officials to take stock of the preparations for the event to be held at Chaityabhoomi on the death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar on December 6. Following this meeting, Fadnavis went to CM house to meet Shinde.
Fadnavis named CM-elect, Mahayuti leaders stake claim to form govt
At the legislature party meeting held in Vidhan Bhawan earlier in the day, former Gujarat CM and BJP’s central observer Vijay Rupani announced that Fadnavis has been unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader.
Later, Fadnavis alongwith Shinde and Ajit Pawar, met with state Governor CP Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form the government, presenting letters of support from coalition partners, including the Shiv Sena and the NCP.
However, there is still no clarity if Shinde will join the government.
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(With inputs from agencies)