New Delhi:
Amid the political drama in Maharashtra, the Congress party on Saturday decided to skip the joint press conference of Shiv Sena and NCP. This came after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis earlier this morning took oath as the Maharashtra Chief Minister for the second consecutive term while NCP’s Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The oath was administered by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to Fadnavis and Pawar at Raj Bhawan. Following the formation of the government, President’s Rule was revoked in Maharashtra.
Blaming the Shiv Sena for disrespecting the people’s mandate in last month’s Assembly polls, Fadnavis said, “People had given us a clear mandate, but Shiv Sena tried to ally with other parties after the results, after which the President’s rule was imposed. Maharashtra needed a stable government, not a ‘khichdi’ government.”
“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and J P Nadda for giving me the chance to serve people once again,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader added.
Ajit Pawar backed the BJP and with the support of Independent lawmakers and smaller parties, the saffron party decided to stake claim to form the government, he said.
It was only on Friday evening that Sharad Pawar had said the new government would be led by Uddhav Thackeray, which signalled the end of speculation on who would occupy the chief minister’s post. The three parties had even prepared a draft common minimum programme (CMP) to guide the actions of the new government.
However, after the oath-taking ceremony was held early on Saturday, Sharad Pawar tweeted: “Ajit Pawar’s decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his.”
