Amid the growing suspense over the Maharashtra chief minister post, BJP’s central observer for the state legislature party meeting Vijay Rupani said the “government will surely be formed.”
While opposition parties have been slamming the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance over the delay in picking the CM face, Rupani said that everything will be discussed in the legislature party meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Mumbai on Wednesday, December 4.
“The government will surely be formed. The state legislature meeting will be held tomorrow and our leader will be elected,” Rupani, also a former chief minister of Gujarat, told reporters.
On Monday, the saffron party had appointed Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Vijay Rupani as its two central observers for its legislature party meeting in Maharashtra to select its leader.
After the leader is selected, the announcement of who will be the next chief minister of the state is likely to be announced.
Earlier, PTI had reported citing a senior BJP functionary that the CM pick will be announced after the legislature party meeting, on the eve of the Mahayuti government’s swearing-in ceremony.
Since the Mahayuti alliance achieved a landslide victory in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections, debate over who will take the top post has been in the limelight, with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde being the top contenders.
The NDA group secured 230 of the 288 assembly seats in the state and of these, the BJP bagged 132, Shinde’s Sena won 57 and Ajit Pawar’s NCP won 41 seats.
The oath-taking ceremony of the new Mahayuti government will take place at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on December 5, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Amid the continued suspense, caretaker chief minister Eknath Shinde, who returned to town after visiting his native village, met with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at the former’s official residence Varsha.
This was the first meeting between Fadnavis and Shinde since the deadlock on government formation last month.
Notably, Shinde has repeatedly reiterated his support to the BJP top brass — PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda — and said that he will respect whatever decision they make regarding the CM post.
Shinde had said that he would not get in the way of BJP getting the chief ministerial post.