Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is all set to become CM for the send time. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command on Monday cleared his name and the proposal also received the approval of alliance partners Shiv Sena led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Pawar.
In the evening, Union Home Minister Amit Shah convened a meeting with Shinde, Fadnavis, and Pawar to discuss the power-sharing details. Chief Minister designate Fadnavis reached New Delhi to attend a high level meeting.
It was decided that Shiv Sena and NCP likely to get 12 and 10 ministerial berths, respectively, with some key portfolios thrown. The maximum permissible limit for the Council of Ministers in the state is 43, including the CM. The BJP, which has 132 MLAs, is likely to keep 21 ministerial berths for itself.
Eknath Shinde likely to become Deputy CM along with Ajit Pawar.
The top four portfolios – Home, Finance, Urban Development and Revenue that the BJP was keen on retaining would now be shared with the alliance partners. However, some last-minute negotiations on the number of ministerial berths and portfolios was still continuing, according to sources.
Fadnavis became the CM of Maharashtra in 2014. At the time, the BJP was in coalition with then undivided Shiv Sena. After the 2019 Assembly polls, the Fadnavis-led BJP joined hands with Ajit Pawar. Fadnavis took oath as CM and Pawar as Deputy CM but the government lasted for around 80 hours as Ajit went back to his uncle and current NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.
