Maharashtra: Eknath Shinde relents, will take oath as deputy chief minister

Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde will be taking oath as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra at the swearing-in ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday evening, 5 December, his party colleague Uday Samant announced.

BJP legislature party leader Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as chief minister, while Shinde and NCP chief Ajit Pawar will be sworn in as his deputies at the ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Samant's announcement in the afternoon ended the uncertainty over Shinde's role in the new Mahayuti government.

"Eknath Shinde is set to take oath as deputy chief minister. We had a discussion with Devendra Fadnavis, who provided us with a letter confirming that Shinde will join him as deputy CM. I am here to submit it to the governor," Samant told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan before meeting Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan.

Shinde, who was chief minister in the previous Mahayuti coalition government, was reportedly not happy as he had to cede the top post to ally BJP and was reluctant to take the deputy CM post.

The formation of the new government comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the 20 November state assembly polls and results on 23 November.

Together with allies Shiv Sena and NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member House.