In a move that no one saw coming, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will take oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister at 7:30 pm today (Thursday, June 30), announced BJP's Devendra Fadnavis.
Fadnavis, meanwhile, said he will stay out of the government and ensure that it runs smoothly.
"After the swearing-in ceremony today, we will have a cabinet expansion and Shiv Sena and BJP leaders will take the oath," Fadnavis added.
Speaking about the rebellion led by Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis said the Shiv Sena MLAs were demanding that the alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) should be ended but Uddhav Thackeray ignored these MLAs and gave priority to Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners.
The BJP leader said the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with those "who are against Hindutva & Savarkar". Shiv Sena insulted the mandate of the people, he added.
Meanwhile, Shinde said today's decision "is committed to Balasaheb's Hindutva & for the development work in the constituencies of our MLAs". We have 50 MLAs with us, he added.
