Fadnavis to be Maharashtra Deputy CM, says Shah

CHENNAI: After the dramatic confusion over the post of Chief Minister in Maharashtra, State BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis confirmed during the press conference on Thursday that Shiv Sena's rebel leader Eknath Shinde will be sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the former will be the Deputy Chief Minister.

Earlier, Devendra Fadnavis said, "I will remain out of the government, but I shall do everything possible to make the new government a success on all fronts, and resume the developmental activities that had stopped in the past two and a half years."

However, BJP president JP Nadda has requested Devendra Fadnavis to join the Maharashtra government in the interest of the state.

"So made a personal request to him... the Central leadership has said that Devendra Fadnavis should take charge as Deputy Chief minister," JP Nadda said.

Nadda further added, “Devendra Fadnavis has shown big heart and decided to join new Maharashtra cabinet."

Later, Amit Shah said, "On request of BJP president JP Nadda, Devendra Fadnavis has decided to join Maharashtra govt in the interest of the State."

Shinde, on his part, said he would work for the progress and development of Maharashtra which had practically halted since the past 30 months of the previous government", and reiterated that he would follow the ideals of Bahasaheb Thackeray's Hindutva.

Fadnavis pointed out how in the MVA rule, Hindutva and Veer Savarkar were "insulted" daily, and on the last day in office, the cabinet took decision to rename Aurangabad as "Sambhajinagar" and Osmanabad as "Dharashiv".

"After the Governor's letter (on floor test), the CM Uddhav Thackeray should have not held any cabinet meeting... We (however) support the renaming decisions," he said.