Eknath Shinde on Thursday night got a warm welcome from Pramod Sawant and the Maharashtra MLAs, who had joined his rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray, when he returned to Goa soon after taking oath as the new Maharashtra chief minister. Shinde, 58, was sworn in after Uddhav Thackeray stepped down from the post. He also held his first cabinet meeting right after.
"Congratulated Shri @mieknathshinde ji on taking oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. I wish him all the success in the service of the people. (sic)" the Goa chief minister tweeted, along with some pictures.
Just hours before, Shinde was administered the oath of office by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. Devendra Fadnavis - who was the Maharashtra CM between 2014 and 2019 - is now his deputy.
“People thought that the BJP was desperate for power. But truly, this is a masterstroke by Devendra ji. To hand over power to another person despite having larger numbers (of MLAs) requires a big heart. With his decision, people of the state and the country got to see a new example of this large heartedness,” Shinde told reporters. The BJP has 105 MLAs in the 288-member assembly while Shine managed to get support of over 50 MLA in the last 10 days. In total, he has said, he has over 175 MLAs.
{{/usCountry}}“People thought that the BJP was desperate for power. But truly, this is a masterstroke by Devendra ji. To hand over power to another person despite having larger numbers (of MLAs) requires a big heart. With his decision, people of the state and the country got to see a new example of this large heartedness,” Shinde told reporters. The BJP has 105 MLAs in the 288-member assembly while Shine managed to get support of over 50 MLA in the last 10 days. In total, he has said, he has over 175 MLAs.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, union home minister Amit Shah had spoken about Fadnavis's new role - which came as a surprise - in a tweet: "On the word of BJP chief JP Nadda, Devendra Fadnavis, showing a big heart, has decided to be part of the government in the interest of Maharashtra and the people of the state. This decision reflects his true dedication and attitude of service towards Maharashtra. I congratulate him from the bottom of my heart.” Fadnavis was expected to take charge as the CM.
Visuals showed the MLAs dancing as they celebrated Eknath Shinde’s elevation to the post on Monday. In another video, they were seen welcoming him to the Goa hotel.
Shinde, along with the MLAs, had travelled from Gujarat's Surat to Assam's Guwahati and then to Goa as the rebellion unfolded. He said he was against the "unnatural" alliance between Sena and the Congress and the NCP. There were also claims about inaccessibility of
A two-day special session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held from Saturday. The decision was taken in the first cabinet meeting held held by Shinde, officials were quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)