‘Have Got Positive Support From Eknath Shinde’: Maharashtra CM Designate Fadnavis

Maharashtra Government Formation: Maharashtra Chief Minister designate Devendra Fadnavis dismissed speculation that caretaker Maharashtra CM was upset.

While addressing the media, Fadnavis said, “I have got positive support from Eknath Shinde also. I met him yesterday.”

"Our responsibility has increased. We need to work harder. The struggle ahead is about meeting the expectations people have from us. We must work in tandem with our allies to achieve this," he said. The Bharatiya Janata Party had the people's mandate in 2019 but "it was taken away", he said, apparently referring to the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray severing its ties with the BJP over the chief minister's post and forming government in alliance with the Congress and undivided NCP.

"For the first two and a half years, we faced targeted opposition, but not a single MLA left us. We came to power in 2022, and now, we have achieved a thumping majority in this election," said the 54-year-old politician from Nagpur.

Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Fadnavis said, "I thank the prime minister for selecting someone like me, who has worked as a party worker, to serve in this role three times. Ek hain to safe hai, aur Modi hain to Mumkin hai (United we are safe, and with Modi, everything is possible)." 

The new Mahayuti government of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar -led Nationalist Congress Party would be sworn in at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on Thursday following the coalition's landslide victory in the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections.

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman , former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Fadnavis were present in the BJP's core committee meeting.

The BJP had appointed Sitharaman and Rupani as central observers for its Maharashtra legislature party's meeting.

The BJP achieved remarkable success in the November 20 Maharashtra elections, securing 132 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state, marking its best performance in the state so far.
Together with its allies -- the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar's NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.