MUMBAI/ NEW DELHI: Devendra Fadnavis resigned as Maharashtra chief minister on Tuesday ahead of the floor test shortly after rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar did a u-turn and quit as his deputy, in another dramatic twist to the month-long political saga that will see Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray being sworn in as the BJP leader’s successor on November 28.
Admitting he does not have the majority hours after the Supreme Court ordered the floor test for Wednesday, Fadnavis was back in Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari barely 80 hours after taking oath for the second time in a hush-hush ceremony early last Saturday.
Hours after Fadnavis quit, a post-poll alliance of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) and the Congress, picked Uddhav Thackeray, 59, as its nominee for the chief minister’s post. Leaders of the three parties on Tuesday night met the governor and staked claim to form the government following which Koshyari invited the alliance. Thackeray will be sworn in on November 28, the Sena said after the meeting.
The decision to name Thackeray was taken earlier at a joint meeting of the three parties at a suburban hotel in Mumbai.
Speaking at the meeting, Thackeray evoked memories of his father, late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. He also thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. “I want to thank Sonia ji also. Parties with different ideologies have come together…those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me,” Thackeray said.
The BJP with 105 MLAs is the single largest party while the Sena’s 56 MLAs along with the NCP and Congress’ 54 and 44 legislators, respectively, would take the combine’s tally to 154. The majority mark in a House of 288 is 145. Thackeray, who would be the first member of his family to occupy the top political post in the state, said his government will not be vindictive. “I will go to Delhi to meet my `elder brother’ after the government is formed,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had called him “my younger brother” during campaign rallies.
Thackeray is not a member of the Maharashtra legislature and will have to become a member within six months after taking oath as the chief minister.
Ajit Pawar cited “personal reasons’ for his decision to quit.
Fadnavis handed over his resignation to the governor after he announced his decision at a crowded news conference in Mumbai.
Ajit Pawar had supported the BJP as leader of the 54-member NCP legislature party and with his resignation earlier in the day, the government has lost majority, said Fadnavis, hours after the Supreme Court ordered the floor test for the BJP leader to prove his majority.
Once being only the second chief minister in Maharashtra to complete the full five-year term, Fadnavis now holds the dubious distinction of being the CM with the shortest tenure of four days in the last 59 years.
Governor Koshyari called a special session of the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday for the 288 newly-elected members to take oath. The oath will be administered by newly-appointed pro-tem speaker Kalidas Kolambkar. The session will begin at 8 am.
The collapse of the nascent government capped the month-long uncertainty in Maharashtra politics, which witnessed many twists and turns since the results of the assembly elections were declared on October 24.
With no party having the requisite numbers, President’s Rule was imposed on November 12, which was lifted on November 23 paving the return of Fadnavis as chief minister.
The Shiv Sena walked away from the ‘Mahayuti’ (the Sena-BJP alliance) on the issue of sharing the chief minister’s post. (PTI)
