The political turmoil in Maharashtra led to the crash of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the formation of a new Shiv Sena-BJP partnership. Though it was expected that Devendra Fadnavis will be the new chief minister of the state, the post went to Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde.
Fadnavis, who had said earlier that he was “unhappy” and not mentally prepared to accept the Deputy Chief Minister post in Maharashtra, has now said that he is the one who put Eknath Shinde’s name forward for the CM post in the state.
“People used to think that BJP is eager for power, it is doing this for the post of CM, but despite having 106 MLAs, we made Eknath Shinde the CM. It’s my responsibility to ensure that Eknath Shinde is a successful CM,” Fadnavis said at a press conference, as per ANI reports.
The BJP leader further said that he took the Deputy CM post after a discussion was held with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president JP Nadda as well as Union home minister Amit Shah.
“The order of the party’s seniors was paramount to me and the BJP leadership believed that he should be part of the government,” he added. This comes just a few days after the swearing-in ceremony of both Shinde and Fadnavis, and the resignation of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.
Taking a dig at Thackeray and the MVA government, the BJP leader further said, “One person has polluted the politics of Maharashtra and put state politics’ culture into a ditch, you know who that person is. He should have self-respect.”
Putting rest to news reports claiming that Fadnavis is unhappy knowing Shinde being the Chief Minister of the State, Fadnavis today, while addressing a press conference said, “Had I requested, I could have become the Chief Minister. We made Shiv Sena’s representative a Chief Minister for ideology…It was my proposal to make Shinde the CM.”
Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and his new government won the floor test on July 4 by proving their majority in the state assembly on Monday. In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.
(With ANI inputs)
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