After a dramatic collapse of the four-day-old BJP government in Maharashtra, the question remains whether the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to the swearing-in ceremony of Uddhav Thackeray who is set to be the CM.
When asked if the Prime Minister will be invited to the swearing-in ceremony, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: "Yes, we will invite everyone. We will even invite Amit Shah ji."
A delegation of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena leaders on Tuesday met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, following which it was announced that Uddhav Thackeray will take the oath of office and secrecy on November 28.
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Leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress elected Thackeray as the leader of the tri-party alliance. He is currently not a member of any House in the state legislature and when sworn in on Thursday, he will be the first Shiv Sena leader and the first from the Thackeray family to become chief minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis quit as the CM of Maharashtra following the resignation of NCP's Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM. Fadnavis said that the BJP could not prove majority without the support of Pawar and NCP MLAs.
The BJP government fell apart hours after the Supreme Court ordered a floor test to be held on November 27 after the three-party alliance moved the apex court against the Governor's decision to swear in Fadnavis as CM in a hushed manner on Saturday early morning.
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Five years ago, when Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, it was a grand event attended by not only chief ministers from other BJP-led states, but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the November 23 swearing-in came as an early morning coup with only a few officials and less than a dozen NCP MLAs attending the event where Fadanavis and Ajit Pawar became CM and Deputy CM respectively.
Amid the tussle between Shiv Sena and then ally BJP after the results of the Assembly elections came out on October 24, Amit Shah had ruled out Sena's demand for the CM's post. This was the main reason behind the BJP-Sena break up.
Hence, there is speculation whether the two BJP stalwarts will attend Thackeray's swearing-in or even congratulate the coalition government as a courtesy.
"Before the elections, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I had said many times in public that Devendra Fadnavis will be the Chief Minister if the alliance wins. Nobody objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands that are not acceptable to us," Amit Shah had told news agency ANI earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters after taking oath as member of the 14th state Assembly on Wednesday, Balasaheb Thorat, the Congress Legislature Party leader in the House, said, "The ratio of portfolio-sharing will be finalised in next two days. The number of Cabinet and Minister of State (MoS) posts to be given to each party will also be finalised in next two days."
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Asked whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi or party leader Rahul Gandhi would attend Thackeray's swearing-in ceremony, Thorat said, "Nothing has been finalised so far on this."
(With inputs from agencies)
