Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who managed to drag out the suspense over the question of his joining the Devendra Fadnavis government till the last possible minute, took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister in Mumbai this evening.
In his acceptance speech — which started even before the Governor could administer the oath — he recalled Bal Thackeray and Anand Dighe and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the people of Maharashtra.
That Mr Shinde would join the goverment was more or less settled.
Devendra Fadnavis dropped broad hints about it yesterday afternoon after meeting the Governor with both allies to stake claim to form government.
He even underscored his role in the effort, speaking of his meeting with the Sena leader on Tuesday evening.
The BJP’s numerical advantage and Ajit Pawar’s promise to back Mr Fadnavis for the top post had left Mr Shinde with little optiom but to fall in line with the BJP plans.
Still, he managed to look coy, telling reporters that whether he would join the government or not will be made clear today.
But the promised announcement did not come. What came instead were a series of statements from the leaders of Mr Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena, claiming to leave no stone unturned to get their chief to join the government.
Sena leader Sanjay Shirasat said, “Eknath Shinde will listen to our request and take oath as Deputy Chief Minister… we want him to take the oath. We are all going to convince him and get him ready for the oath-taking”.
Uday Samant declared no Shinde Sena leader would accept a seat in the government if Mr Shinde chose not to accept the offer.
A third, Deepak Kesarkar, used the example of Mr Fadnavis, who had accepted a lesser rank in 2022 – albeit grudgingly — as the BJP chose to reward Mr Shinde with the top post after he split the Sena.
The posturing — despite Mr SHinde’s capitulation last week, declaring that hewould accept theb BJP decision — have been seen as a ploy to scoop up the cream of cabinet berths including the home ministry.
The BJP appears is to part with the portfolio, which has been handled for years Mr Fadnavis. Discussions on contentious top portfolios and cabinet berths are expected to take place after the oath ceremony.
