Maharashtra Govt Formation Highlights ‘BJP planned govt swearing-in without Eknath Shinde if he remained stubborn’, says Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut

A day after a new government took charge in Maharashtra, activist Manoj Jarange on Friday said a fresh round of agitation will be launched after January 5 if demands of the Maratha community, including job quota under OBC category, are not fulfilled.

Jarange, who undertook multiple rounds of hunger strike during the previous Eknath Shinde-led government, asserted his community was firm on its demands.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his two deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath on December 5 (Thursday), ushering in the Mahayuti 2.0 government.

"They (Fadnavis, Shinde and Pawar) took oath yesterday (December 5). If they don't address the demands of the Maratha community in the next one month (by January 5), we will declare a fresh date for our agitation," the quota activist warned.

A Congress delegation met residents of a village in Maharashtra's Solapur district who had raised doubts about EVMs and had announced plans to conduct a "repoll" using ballots.

Residents of Markadwadi village, part of Malshiras Assembly seat, had claimed BJP candidate Ram Satpute's vote count as per EVMs in the November 20 assembly polls was "doubtful" since they believed at least 80 per cent of the votes would have gone to eventual winner Uttam Jankar of the NCP (SP).

While the BJP leader should not have got more than 100-150 votes from their village, the official figures stood at 1,003 for Jankar and 843 for Satpute, the residents pointed out.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has demanded the crucial home department from the BJP and talks on portfolio allocation are in progress, Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogavale said on Friday.

Gogavale, an aide of Shinde who heads the Shiv Sena, said the cabinet expansion is likely to take place between December 11 and 16, just ahead of the winter session of the state legislature.

The winter session of the legislature will start in Nagpur, the state's second capital, from December 16.

"When Devendra Fadnavis was the deputy chief minister (in Shinde-led government), he also held the home department. Saheb (Shinde) has demanded the home and talks (on portfolio allocation) are in progress," Gogavale said.

Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan administers the oath of office to senior Member of the Legislative Assembly Kalidas Sulochana Nilakantha Kolambkar as Interim Speaker of the Assembly, at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that Hindutva played an important role in the recent state assembly elections, and counter-polarisation helped the Mahayuti alliance score a big win.

Fadnavis, who took oath as Maharashtra chief minister for the third time on Thursday, said in an interview to ABP news channel that Hindutva and development are two sides of the same coin and described BJP's Hindutva as a way of life.

He also alleged that opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had an agreement with people like (Islamic scholar) Sajjad Nomani, wherein it was agreed to withdraw cases of riots filed against Muslims since 2012.

-PTI

The anointment may have taken a few days, but Devendra Fadnavis has looked the picture of a man in control since the November 23 Maharashtra results made the scale of the Mahayuti’s win evident, writes Shubhangi Khapre.

The face of the BJP campaign in the state, he has been sharing pictures with the string of winners making a beeline to his home, posting news reports highlighting his role, and highlighting items on the prophetic lines he spoke in the past predicting that he would be back.

However, his five years in power (2014-19) and the five years since of trying to stay there mean that Fadnavis knows the time for grand narratives is over.

Now that the chief minister’s post is categorically his, the next stage will begin of managing a three-sided coalition and its different power centres.

What does this mean for Fadnavis and the newly formed state government? Read here.

Milind Narvekar, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC and close aide of party president Uddhav Thackeray, on Friday extended his good wishes to BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for taking over as the new chief minister of Maharashtra.

In a story on Instagram, Narvekar, whose party is the largest political formation in the opposition in the newly elected Assembly, also wished Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena) and Ajit Pawar (NCP).

Notably, no major leader from the opposition, including Thackeray, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Congress head Nana Patole, attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Mahayuti government on December 5 in Mumbai's Azad Maidan.

In another story on Instagram, Narvekar paid rich respects to social reformer Dr B R Ambedkar on his death anniversary, which is observed as 'Mahaparinirvan Diwas'.

The other message from the picture from Mumbai was for the BJP’s own ranks, writes Vikas Pathak.

By going with Fadnavis as CM, the party made a break from its moves after the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh poll wins last year, where a central leadership convinced of its own inevitability had plucked virtually nobodies and given them the top state post.

Fadnavis, however, is a power centre in his own right. A BJP leader said the party realised it needed a man like him as CM to retain the party’s primacy in the Mahayuti alliance in the face of shrewd partners such as Shinde and Ajit Pawar.

That from apart, Fadnavis is also close to the RSS.

Read about Maharashtra's parallels with UP and Assam here.

A senior member of Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly and nine-term MLA Kalidas Sulochana Nilkanth Kolambkar of the BJP took oath as the Pro-tem Speaker of Maharasahtra State Legislative Assembly at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai on Friday.

He will preside over the swearing-in of MLAs at a special session that will begin from Saturday, Dec 7.

The selection of the Assembly Speaker will take place on Dec 9 after Governor CP Radhakrishnan's address

Both the string of BJP leaders calling on him to placate him over the past three days, as well as pressure from his own MLAs, seem to have finally convinced Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde to agree to take oath as Deputy Chief Minister, just two hours to go for the Maharashtra government swearing-in.

Sources said Shinde dragged out the matter due to reservations over certain key portfolios, committing only this much that someone from the Sena would take oath as Deputy CM.

On the Sena’s main demand – the Home portfolio, apart from the Deputy CM post – a BJP insider said: “It was conveyed to Shinde that if he is so keen on Home, then the Sena would have to let go of the Urban Development Ministry, as that would then go to the CM. It is now up to him.”

Full report here. Don't miss!