Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah will be invited to a function where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will take oath as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sena said on Tuesday, after days-old BJP government collapsed before it could take a floor test ordered by the Supreme Court. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy, Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar, resigned today after failing to muster enough numbers, ensuring that the Congress and NCP will form government in Maharashtra in partnership with ideologically opposite Shiv Sena.
The Sena-NCP-Congress leaders on Tuesday evening conducted a meeting where it was decided Mr Thackeray will lead the alliance and the state government. “Key leaders of the three parties will meet Governor to stake claim to form government in Maharashtra…the swearing-in ceremony will take place on December 1,” NCP’s Nawab Malik said at a presser in Mumbai. The date of the ceremony, however, was later changed to November 28.
The function will take place at Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park, he said.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut — who had been at the forefront of alliance talks between the three parties after the decades old Sena-BJP partnership had ended over Mr Thackeray’s demand of rotational chief ministership — was asked today if PM Modi would be invited to the function.
“Yes we will invite everyone, we will even invite Amit Shah,” he quipped.
The BJP, in a stunning move, had Devendra Fadnavis take oath of office at an unannounced ceremony in the Governor’s official residence early Saturday morning. Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar had also been sworn in as his deputy. The move took the Sena-Congress-NCP alliance, which had been exploring the feasibility of a coalition government, completely by surprise.
Ajit Pawar, in cryptic tweets on Sunday, said the NCP was an ally of the BJP in the state government, indicating party MLAs were in support of his rebellion.
The Sena-NCP-Congress alliance responded to his tweets by a show of strength on Monday, where they paraded their MLAs, over 150 in number.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition by the three parties against the BJP’s move, ordered Mr Fadnavis to take a floor test on Wednesday morning. Within hours, the Chief Minister and his deputy resigned.
