Devendra Fadnavis likely to take oath on Novembe 2 or 3 at Wankhede

Mumbai: Even as the Shiv Sena is mounting pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to share the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years each, the later has started preparations for chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ swearing-in ceremony.

A senior party leader said on Saturday that Mr Fadnavis is likely to be sworn-in as the chief minister for his second term on November 2 or 3 at Wankhede Stadium.

The senior BJP leader said, “The swearing-in ceremony of the new government is likely to be completed by November 3. Meanwhile, the discussion over sharing of portfolios would be held with Shiv Sena president, Uddhav Thackeray.”

Interestingly, the BJP leader added that the party had earlier planned to hold the swearing ceremony at Mahalakshmi Race Course if it had managed to get a majority on its own.

With the BJP short of 40 seats to form the government on its own, it has to take the Shiv Sena on board. The Amit Shah-led party won 105 seats, while its ally, the Shiv Sena, won 56 seats in the recently-concluded elections.

With the BJP registering a below-par performance, the Sena is reportedly playing hardball and batting for a 50-50 formula (rotational chief ministership and meatier portfolios).

“A team of senior state BJP leaders, including Sudhir Mungatiwar, Chandrakant Patil, will accompany Amit Shah to meet with the Sena chief after Diwali. However, only Mr Shah will speak with Mr Thackeray,” the BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the BJP has also called for a legislative party meeting at the Vidhan Bhavan on October 30 to elect its leader in the new legislative Assembly.

Mr Fadnavis would be elected the BJP legislative party leader in the meeting before party observers sent by the Delhi leadership.

The BJP leader added that this will be a mere formality since PM Narendra Modi and the party president had declared Mr Fadnavis as the BJP’s chief ministerial face during the polls.

Sources said that the BJP has been holding internal discussions to deter the Sena from being allocated the home, revenue and finance portfolios.

However, the Sena, sources said, is drafting its own charter of demands keeping in mind the portfolio distribution exercise undertaken in 1995.

In the first saffron government in Maharashtra, the BJP, then a junior partner in the alliance, had been allocated home, water resources, rural development, civil supplies, public health, transport, public works, finance and planning, but not revenue and urban development.  

In the last BJP-led dispensation, chief minister Fadnavis had kept several important portfolios, such as the home department, with himself. However, a junior minister in the home department represents the Sena, Deepak Kesarkar.