After MVA govt crumbles, BJP readying to stake claim with Gov

MUMBAI: Hours after the 31-month-long, 3-party Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed after a 9-day political drama, hectic activity got underway on Thursday to form a new regime to be led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the breakaway Shiv Sena faction.

The BJP top brass, along with Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, accorded a warm welcome to the rebels’ leader Eknath Shinde who arrived here after a sojourn across Gujarat, Assam, and later Goa, to hammer out the nitty-gritties of staking claim with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

According to available indications, Fadnavis and Shinde are likely to be directed on the formalities of the oath-taking ceremony after they meet the Governor in a short while.

Though there is no official word yet, Fadnavis is expected to be sworn-in as the new Chief Minister for the 3rd time, while Shinde, with the support of around 50 MLAs, will be the new Deputy Chief Minister, along with a few ministers from the BJP and the rebel group, by the Governor at Raj Bhavan.

The developments cap the saga of nail-biting political suspense and legal wrangles of the last 10 days that finally saw the fall of the Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government with the resignation of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray late on Wednesday night.