Maha twist: Shinde CM, Fadnavis his dy

BJP Aims To Settle Scores With Sena, NCP; Fadnavis To Keep A Check

New Delhi/Mumbai: When Uddhav Thackeray quit as Maharashtra CM, clearing the way for BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis to return to his old job in Mantralaya, almost everyone thought the gripping political drama would now move in a straight line. Except that a stunning turn was yet to come.

And it came on Thursday evening, when BJP decided to step aside for rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde (58) to take the helm. That was not all. Fadnavis announced he would not be part of the government, only to be directed by the BJP leadership to take oath as deputy CM.

In a day of dramatic twists, Shinde, who led a massive coup in the Sena, was sworn in as the state's 20th CM after he staked claim to form the government with BJP, and Fadnavis (51) as his deputy.

The decision left many intrigued and confused. Maharashtra is the second state after Bihar where BJP has ceded chief ministership to a partner despite having more MLAs. But that is not an exact parallel. In Bihar, BJP contested the 2020 polls by projecting Nitish Kumar as its CM candidate and stuck to its original choice despite having outperformed him significantly.

In contrast, BJP has a popular face in Fadnavis. He was seen as having performed well as CM- something which was a factor in the BJPSena alliance's victory in the 2019 polls. His party refused to sacrifice his claim when Uddhav claimed the CMO as the condition for continuing in the Hindutva combination.