In a surprising development on Saturday morning, the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra once again. Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of the state.
This has effectively brought an end to the month-long political stalemate in the second largest state of India after last month’s assembly results were inconclusive.
Prime Minister Narendra tweeted congratulating Fadnavis on becoming the chief minister once again. He wrote, “Congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis ji and Ajit Pawar ji on taking oath as the CM and Deputy CM of Maharashtra respectively. I am confident they will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra.”
Congratulations to @Dev_Fadnavis Ji and @AjitPawarSpeaks Ji on taking oath as the CM and Deputy CM of Maharashtra respectively. I am confident they will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 23, 2019
Fadnavis, for his part, was quoted by ANI as saying, “People had given us a clear mandate, but Shiv Sena tried to ally with other parties after results, as a result President’s rule was imposed. Maharashtra needed a stable govt not a ‘khichdi’ govt.”
Ajit Pawar said that ‘from the result day to this day no party was able to form the government’ adding that ‘Maharashtra was facing many problems including farmer issues, so we decided to form a stable government.’
The news of Fadnavis taking oath as the state’s chief minister once again has come as a huge surprise in the light of the NCP and the Congress holding talks in Mumbai on the support to the Shiv Sena to form the government.
Ahmed Patel of the Congress and Sharad Pawar of the NCP had said that the talks will continue on Saturday morning.
LIVE UPDATES
- Nationalist Congress Party MLA Atul Benke in Mumbai: I am with Sharad Pawar Ji. We all are together. (ANI)
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Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai: We will provide a stable government. Modi hai toh mumkin hai!! (ANI)
- Sources: Congress is planning to move its MLAs out of Maharashtra. They will be moved to a Congress ruled state. (ANI)
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Ahmed Patel, Congress: All the three (Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena) parties are together in this and I am confident we will defeat BJP in the trust vote. All Congress MLAs are present here except two who are right now in their village, but they too are with us. (ANI)
- Ahmed Patel,Congress: Today was a black spot in the history of Maharashtra. Everything was done in a hushed manner and early morning. Something is wrong somewhere. Nothing can be more shameful than this. (ANI)
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Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena: We are in touch with Dhananjay Munde and there is a possibility of even Ajit Pawar coming back. Ajit has been blackmailed, it will be exposed who is behind this, in Saamna newspaper soon. (ANI)
- Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena: Of the 8 MLAs who had gone with Ajit Pawar, 5 of them have come back. They were lied to, put in a car, and sort of kidnapped. Agar himmat hai to vidhaan sabha mein majority saabit kar ke dikhaye. (ANI)
- Two more NCP MLAs Sandip Kshirsagar and Sunil Bhusara also allege that they were unknowingly taken to the oath ceremony and that now they have come back and expressed support to Sharad Pawar. (ANI)
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NCP MLA Rajendra Shingane: Ajit Pawar had called me to discuss something and from there I was taken with other MLAs to Raj Bhavan. Before we could understand oath ceremony was complete. I rushed to Pawar Sahab and told him I am with Sharad Pawar and NCP. (ANI)
- NCP Chief Sharad Pawar: I don’t know if he(Ajit Pawar) has done this fearing investigating agencies or not. As per my source, 10-11 MLAs were there in Raj Bhavan and out of those, 3 are already here sitting with me. (ANI)
- NCP Chief Sharad Pawar: I’m sure Governor has given them time to prove majority but they won’t be able prove it. After that our three parties will form the government as we had decided earlier. (ANI)
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NCP MLA Rajendra Shingane: Ajit Pawar had called me to discuss something and from there I was taken with other MLAs to Raj Bhavan. Before we could understand oath ceremony was complete. I rushed to Pawar Sahab and told him I am with Sharad Pawar and NCP. (ANI)
- NCP Chief Sharad Pawar: Ajit Pawar’s decision is against the party line and is indiscipline. No NCP leader or worker is in favour of an NCP-BJP government (ANI)
- Maharashtra: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to address the media at party’s state office in Mumbai at 2.30 pm today. (ANI)
- Mumbai: Slogans raised in support of Sharad Pawar and against Ajit Pawar by a group of NCP workers outside YB Chavan Centre where Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena will address the media shortly. (ANI)
- Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi: Shiv Sena’s culture in Maharashtra is same as RJD’s in Bihar. Like there are ruffians & goons in RJD, it is the same in Shiv Sena. No government can run for long with a party like Shiv Sena, people in Nationalist Congress Party knew this. (ANI)
- Digvijaya Singh, Congress: This is making a mockery of the constitution, BJP did the same in Goa, Meghalaya and other states. No MLA of the NCP will support this, Ajit Pawar has gone with them alone. (ANI)
- Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge & Ahmed Patel arrive for the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena joint Press Conference at the YB Chavan Centre. #Maharashtra (ANI)
- Nawab Malik,NCP:Ye dhoke se banayi gayi sarkar hai aur ye vidhan sabha ke floor pe haaregi, saare vidhayak hamare saath hain. #Maharashtra (ANI)
- Nawab Malik, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP): We had taken signatures from MLAs for attendance, it was misused as a basis for the oath. (ANI)
- Sanjay Nirupam: People would be thinking I will be happy by today’s developments, but I am actually very sad. Congress has been unnecessarily defamed in this and thinking of alliance with Shiv Sena was a mistake. I appeal to Sonia ji to at first dissolve Congress Working Committee (ANI)
- Mumbai: Sharad Pawar has called a meeting of all NCP MLAs at 4.30 pm today. (ANI)
- Supriya Sule, Senior NCP leader and daughter of Sharad Pawar’s latest Whatsapp status,her office confirms statement as well (ANI)
- BJP Working President, JP Nadda in Ahmedabad: I congratulate the people of Maharashtra, a stable government under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis ji has been formed. It is a sign of a mature democracy. (ANI)
- An urgent meeting has been called by Congress at party office in Mumbai. Senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and KC Venugopal to be present. (ANI)
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Girish Mahajan,BJP on Sanjay Raut: Verbal diarrhoea will be the right phrase to use for him. Even many Shiv Sena MLAs are frustrated with him and they may also think of going with us. (ANI)
- Girish Mahajan,BJP: We will prove our majority with support of over 170 MLAs. Ajit Pawar has given a letter to Governor about support of his MLAs and as he is legislative party leader of NCP, which means all NCP MLAs have supported us (ANI)
- Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra BJP President: Sanjay Raut should now at least keep silent. He has ruined Shiv Sena. (ANI)
- Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra BJP President: Voters had voted for BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and we got 161 MLAs, but Shiv Sena betrayed the mandate. Since the first press conference they had started talking about alternatives. (ANI)
- NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray to address the media at 12.30 pm today (ANI)
- Sanjay Raut arrives at the Shiv Sena headquarters to meet top leaders