Maharashtra Governor invites Fadnavis to form govt, oath-taking on December 5

Maharashtra CM-designate Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday met Governor CP Radhakrishnan to stake claim to form the government in the state.

The governor has invited him to take oath at 5.30 pm on Thursday.

Fadnavis accompanied by deputy chief minister-designate Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar of NCP, handed over letters of support of NDA parties and MLAs to the governor who invited the alliance to form the government.

“We have met the Governor and handed over the letter of support to stake claim to form the government in the state. The Governor has invited us for the oath ceremony tomorrow at 5.30 pm,” Fadnavis said after the meeting. He was flanked by Shinde and Ajit Pawar.

Earlier on Wednesday, Fadnavis, 54, was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Maharashtra, paving the way for his return as the chief minister of India's richest state.

Fadnavis was elected by all 132 MLAs of the BJP in the presence of central observers of the party, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani.

Fadnavis was CM of the state from 2014 and 2019. In the 2019 state elections, the pre-poll alliance of the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena got a mandate to rule but Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray broke away from the pact to get the CM's chair.

Thackeray joined hands with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Congress and became the CM.

In 2022, Thackeray's right hand man, Eknath Shinde, broke away from the parent party and became the chief minister of the state with BJP support. Sharad Pawar's nephew split the NCP and joined the BJP-Sena government, with Shinde as CM, Fadnavis as deputy CM along with Ajit Pawar.

Importantly, Fadnavis had the full backing of RSS, BJP's ideological mentor organisation. Fadnavis is an MLA from Nagpur South, and represents the area of maximum influence of the RSS which has its headquarters in Nagpur's Resham Bagh.

The RSS and BJP strategists this time did not want to trade off the CM's post with anyone else. They thought Fadnavis, a former CM who had been pushed to become deputy CM against his wishes and who deferred, needed to be rewarded.

With the BJP winning 132 seats in a 288-member Assembly this time, the saffron forces staked claim to CM position with Fadnavis leading the race.

Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar have been offered deputy CM ship in the new government that will take oath at Mumbai's Azad Maidan on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.