Confirmed! BJP-led Mahayuti govt in Maharashtra to be sworn-in on Dec 5 at Azad Maidan, PM Modi to remain present

Maharashtra goverment formation: Even as suspense continues over the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday  confirmed that the new government will be formed on December 5, in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 5pm in Azad Maidan.

"The oath-taking ceremony of the Mahayuti government will be held in Mumbai's Azad Maidan. It will take place on December 5, 2024, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi."

The confirmation comes amid Eknath Shinde visiting his native village in Satara district, reportedly leading to cancellation of key Mahayuti meeting which is now likely to take place on Sunday.

A few days ago, caretaker CM and Shiv Sena Chief Eknath Shinde had said that he won't be an obstacle in Maharashtra government formation and told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his decision on CM's post will be accepted to him. Whereas, Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.

Who will be CM?

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the frontrunner for the top post, the leader said.

Another senior BJP leader said that a meeting will be held on December 2 to pick the BJP legislature party leader.

On Thursday late night, Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah to discuss a power-sharing pact for the next government.

In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.

In the assembly elections, Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a setback. The grand old party registered one of its worst performances in the state assembly polls after it won only 16 seats. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) could bag only 10 seats, whereas Uddhav Thackeray's (UBT) won 20.