India
Maharashtra CM pick: Day after Mahayuti leaders’ meeting, Eknath Shinde goes to his village, government talks postponed | India News – Times of India
The swearing in of the Maharashtra Cabinet This is unlikely until December 5 as the talks can move forward only after the partners agree on the return of BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as CM with nominees Shiv Sena and NCP as the two deputies.
The swearing-in was expected to take place earlier on Monday. However, negotiations are unlikely to be concluded due to the concerns of Amit Shah, who must balance the competing demands of the Mahayuti Partners with the DGPs conference until Saturday. Sources now expect the swearing-in ceremony to be scheduled for December 5 at Azad Maidan, both because of the difficult nature of Shah’s assignment and because of the engagements of Prime Minister Modi, who is expected to be the star of the show.
During deliberations at the Shah’s residence late Thursday evening, outgoing CM Eknath Shinde drew up the logic that the BJP, with 132 of its own MLAs and another five in a row, was the natural claimant for the CM’s office, sources privy to the matter said. were involved in the negotiations.
The Maha government formation is unlikely to meet before Monday
While Shinde has not indicated whether he would serve as deputy CM along with NCP’s Ajit Pawar, BJP sources remained hopeful of convincing him to be part of a Fadnavis team, with NCP sharing the optimism. There also seems to be an agreement among the partners on the Chairman, an important figure when it comes to coalitions as he is a BJP nominee. Significantly, Shinde dropped hints about Sena’s interest in its candidate as Legislative Council chairman and the BJP, according to sources, did not seem averse to catering to this wish as part of compensation for Shinde.
The appreciation for Shinde’s contribution to Mahayuti’s grand return and the ‘sacrifice’ he is likely to make for the sake of alliance unity will not extend to the BJP agreeing to push for the home department. Fadnavis would be allowed to keep his house, while Ajit Pawar is seen as a successor for a sixth term as finance minister of the richest and most industrialized state.
Both Shiv Sena and NCP have argued that the power-sharing arrangement cannot be worked out purely on the basis of mathematics as this would, for all practical purposes, mean installing a BJP regime as the party’s own numbers are within striking distance the magic mark of 145. But unlike a numbers-based system where berths are allocated based on who has how many MLAs, an arrangement is expected to be based on abstract considerations such as ‘fairness’ and ‘objectivity’. can be difficult, with each partner having ideas that may not be right.
In Delhi, Shinde, addressing the media on Thursday evening, said the meeting with Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda, along with his colleagues from the Mahayuti-Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, was cordial. “The meeting was to discuss the formation of the government. Today was the first meeting; A second meeting will be held tomorrow in Mumbai on CM and portfolio allocation. I have already announced Shiv Sena’s support to the Mahayuti CM candidate so that the deadlock was broken.” he said.
When no Mahayuti meeting took place and news came that Shinde would be in the village for the next two days, his colleague Uday Samant told the media that Shinde had been suffering from fever for the past few days and went to his village to a healthier environment to restore. .
Asked whether Shinde would take up the post of Dy CM, Samant said, “We want Shinde Saheb to be in Maharashtra politics and he should be in the government.” Sources said there will be Shani Amavasya on Saturday and Sunday, additional reasons for not taking action.
BJP sources said the elected MLAs have not been called to Mumbai to choose the party’s legislative leader so far. “This meeting is likely to take place on Monday. After that, the legislative leaders of the three parties will meet to decide on the CM, Dy CM posts and portfolio distribution,” sources said.
BJP sources said if Fadnavis, a former CM, could be dy CM, Shinde could also take over the post, adding that it would send a clear message that it is not just BJP netas who have to compromise.
