Eknath shinde new cm

Eknath Sambhaji Shinde – leader of the Shiv Sena rebellion – is now the chief minister of Maharashtra. The move comes as a surprise, as it was expected that the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis would return as CM, with his party having more seats than the Sena. To state the obvious, this may have entirely been the BJP's call, though the party may claim that it had nothing to do with the rebellion of Shinde and the other MLAs. "I will not be a part of the cabinet, but I will take responsibility for the smooth functioning of the alliance and the government. I will provide full support and co-operation to the government," However, later, the BJP top brass is said to have impressed upon Fadnavis to become deputy chief minister. So, why did the BJP choose to elevate The Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker suspended 16 MLAs under the advise of the Shiv Sena leadership. The status of these MLAs is still subjudice, with the Supreme Court hearing the matter. Even if the suspension would have been revoked, the status of the entire set of rebels would still be uncertain. The anti-defection law makes it difficult for a group of rebel MLAs from a party to form an independent block, even if they account for more than two-thirds of the total number of MLAs of the party. Therefore, Shinde's camp would have been left with only two options – to merge with the BJP or a smaller party aligned to the NDA or legally stake claim to being the 'real Shiv Sena'. The first option would have meant conceding Ud...

Mumbai: Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde took oath as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra in wake of the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Thursday. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is the new Deputy Chief Minister. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office to them at Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai shortly after 7.30 pm. "Development of the state is my priority. I will take all sections of society along with me," Shinde told after the ceremony. Shinde and Fadnavis have the support of 170 MLAs, way above the 145 majority mark in the 288-member House that is necessary to form a government in the state. It was ten days ago that the rebel Shiv Sena leader raised a banner of revolt along with 50 MLAs against former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the latter's ways were in conflict with the aspirations that Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had for the party. Knowing quite well that he no longer had the numbers, Shiv Sena chieftain Uddhav Thackeray had announced on Wednesday his decision to step down from the chief minister post, but not before calling a final cabinet meeting at twilight to rename Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, a dream of his late father. Since then, it was considered a foregone conclusion that Fadnavis will become the CM for the third time, in alliance with the Shinde-led Sena rebels. However, the BJP chieftain made clear that he will not be part of the Eknath Shinde-led ministry. "I will support it from outside," F...

“Let me make it very clear that Eknath Shinde will remain CM until the next assembly election and later we will fight the polls under his leadership in Maharashtra and win,” he announced. Addressing the media before heading to the Babaleshwar assembly constituency to campaign for the BJP candidate in Vijayapura on Wednesday, he said that whatever is being said about the possible change of guard in Maharashtra is only a media creation. Asked why the Maharashtra government often rakes up the boundary issue even as the Mahajan Commission declared that Belagavi should remain as a part of Karnataka, Fadnavi refused to reply, stating that the matter is before the Apex Court. On the allegations of the Maharashtra government deliberately implementing its health guarantee scheme in 865 border villages of Karnataka in order to stake its claim on them, he said that the BJP government has not issued any new order with regard to the said scheme. “ We have made it amply clear that the order related to implementing the health scheme was done during the previous Congress government and not by our government. We have also shown relevant documents in this regard”, he said. On the allegations of the Kannadigas living in bordering villages of Karnataka that the Maharashtra government is being biased with them, Fadnavi refuted the allegations, stating that the government is giving the required facilities. Earlier, he defended Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s government's decision to scrap the...

By Sahil Joshi: As Maharashtra was preparing to welcome BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as its new chief minister at 7 pm today, the news of Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde becoming the state’s CM came as a surprise to many. The development came shortly after Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde met Governor BS Koshyari at Raj Bhavan to stake a claim to form the new government. Now, Eknath Shinde will be sworn in as the new CM at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai at 7:30 pm today. Also read: Here are five possible reasons behind the U-turn 1. In 2019, the BJP and the Shiv Sena fought and won the state assembly election in an alliance. However, post the results, the alliance broke up over the question of who would occupy the chief minister’s post. Soon after, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis shocked the political world by taking oath as the CM early in the morning with the support of the NCP’s Ajit Pawar. This hastily clobbered-up alliance didn’t last, but the move made the BJP come across as a party that had a lust for power. Having Eknath Shinde allows the BJP to project an image of a party that is not after power. 2. While departing as the Maharashtra CM, Uddhav Thackeray had managed to set a narrative of having been backstabbed by the BJP. “You [BJP] have brought Balasaheb's son down,” Uddhav said during his resignation speech. This narrative had the potential to bring Uddhav emotional and political benefit as far as the voters were concerned. By ensuring a ‘Shiv Sainik’ as chief minister, this ...