Ahead of Uddhav Thackeray's swearing-in as Maharashtra chief minister on Thursday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena on Wednesday held a six-hour meeting in Mumbai to iron out the modalities of government formation.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, NCP's Praful Patel said all issues had been sorted out and added that the the deputy chief minister would be from the NCP, whereas the Assembly Speaker will be from the Congress. According to ANI, he also said that the number of ministers to be sworn in along with the chief minister will be finalised during the night. However, it is likely that one or two ministers from every party will be sworn in on Thursday, he added.
Praful Patel, NCP: How many ministers will take oath will be decided tonight. 1 or 2 MLAs from each party will take oath as ministers. Speaker has been decided by all three parties, Speaker will be from Congress and Deputy Speaker from NCP. #Maharashtra https://t.co/kj45FxhIwm
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2019
Ajit Pawar at NCP meeting. ANI
Reports suggest that during the meeting attended by leaders from all three parties including Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Dhananjay Munde and Sharad Pawar, the distribution of cabinet berths was also discussed. Besides the chief minister, the Shiv Sena would get 15 cabinet berths, while the Congress and NCP would each get 13 ministerial berths, reported ANI. However, no official confirmation has been received yet.
The meeting follows Pawar's parleys with Patel, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal and others at the his Mumbai residence earlier in the day. There is speculation that Ajit Pawar, who was present at the meeting, may be inducted in the new cabinet.
Speaking to reporters after leaving the meeting, Ajit, who took oath as a MLA from the NCP said that his backing the short-lived BJP government was not a revolt and that he continued to be a member of the party. "I have been telling all that I was in the NCP, I am in NCP and will be in NCP," he said.
Even as Ajit returned to the party fold, Devendra Fadnavis said that he would comment on Ajit's resignation when the time was right.
Late on Wednesday evening, Uddhav Thackeray invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Modi congratulated Uddhav, who is now set to be the chief minister.
Meanwhile, BJP chief Amit Shah lashed out at former ally Shiv Sena and reiterated that he never promised Shiv Sena the CM's post before elections. Hitting out at the Congress and NCP, he alleged that trading the chief ministers post for the support of a party with 56 seats constituted horse-trading.
"Isn't giving support in lieu of the chief minister's post greed? I tell Sharad ji and Sonia ji that they should try saying that the chief minister will be theirs and then take the support of Shiv Sena. The coalition with about 100 seats is giving the chief minister's post to the party with 56 seats, this is horse-trading," he said.
285 MLAs take oath
A special session of the 14th state Assembly was held on Wednesday where oath was administered to 285 newly- elected members by pro tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar who was appointed to the post by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Legislature secretary Rajendra Bhagwat said a decision on the date for Speaker's election will be taken after the Cabinet meeting, following the swearing-in of Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister.
In a symbolic gesture, NCP MP Supriya Sule greeted her party MLAs and relatives Ajit Pawar and Rohit Pawar at the Vidhan Bhavan's entrance. The newly-elected members could not take oath earlier even one month after the results of the Assembly polls were announced due to dramatic political developments in the state.
Supriya Sule with Ajit Pawar. PTI
The state remained under President's rule for 13 days between 12 and 23 November after no political party was able to form a government. The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Koshyari to appoint a pro tem speaker and ensure all elected members of the House are sworn in on Wednesday itself by 5 pm.
The BJP-led government, which was formed with the support of NCP leader Ajit Pawar on 23 November, collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, after Pawar stepped down as deputy chief minister and Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister.
Fadnavis' resignation came a day after the Sena-led alliance paraded 162 MLAs in an unprecedented show of strength at a luxury hotel on Monday night indicating that the numbers were stacked heavily against the BJP. The alliance, which is expected to have a Common Minimum Programme(CMP), was stitched after hectic parleys involving Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Once being the only second chief minister in Maharashtra to complete the full five-year term, Fadnavis now holds the dubious distinction of being the chief minister with the shortest tenure of four days in the last 59 years.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi has rallied behind Uddhav Thackeray, who is not a member of the state legislature. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed the BJP made "barbaric attempts" to retain power in Maharashtra but the state's people foiled it, marking the beginning of a change in the country's politics.
Exuding confidence, Raut said it will not be surprising if the Shiv Sena forms government at the Centre after having installed its chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) in Maharashtra. Raut, who addressed the media regularly over the past one month as he took the BJP head-on, aggressively putting forth his party's side, also said that he would not be holding regular press briefings from Thursday and revert to his work pertaining to the Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamana'.The Rajya Sabha member is also the executive editor of Marathi daily 'Saamana'.
Senior Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel met Sharad Pawar at his Silver Oak residence in south Mumbai on Wednesday to discuss issues pertaining to Maharashtra's ministerial council and oath-taking ceremony. Following the day's meeting, invitations were extended to Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and DMK leader MK Stalin. Aaditya Thackeray, who took oath as the Worli MLA, reached 10 Janpath on Wednesday night to invite Sonia Gandhi for the swearing-in ceremony.
Delhi: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray at Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi's residence to invite her for the swearing-in ceremony of Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister of #Maharashtra, tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/RMw65ofgD0
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2019
Uddhav Thackeray along with wife Rashmi met Koshyari at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday raised security concerns over the swearing-in ceremony of Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister at Shivaji Park, and said holding such events at a public ground should not become a regular feature.
"We do not want to say anything about tomorrow's ceremony...we are only praying that nothing untoward happens," the court said while hearing a plea on whether the Shivaji Park was a playground or a recreation ground.
After Uddhav's swearing in, Maharashtra will have a chief minister from the Sena after 20 years. Uddhav, 59, will be sworn in as the chief minister in an evening ceremony at the sprawling Shivaji Park, where his father and Sena founder Bal Thackeray addressed his famous Dussehra rallies.
The last Sena man to occupy the chief minister's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first Sena chief minister.
Thursday's swearing in ceremony follows days of dramatic political developments, which included a three-day government formed by unexpected support from Ajit , who has since returned to the NCP fold.
With inputs from agencies
November 27, 2019 at 11:20PM
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