New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar on taking oath as Maharashtra's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively and exuded confidence that the new government will work for the state's bright future.
Taking to Twitter, Modi said, "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." The oath was administered by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhawan to Fadnavis and Pawar.
In a major development, Fadnavis earlier this morning took oath as the Chief Minister for the second consecutive term while Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena on government formation seemingly reached the final stage on Friday. Earlier, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed that there was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the alliance government.
The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in last month's assembly elections, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths. Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state. The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.
