MUMBAI: Devendra Fadnavis was unanimously elected as the Maharashtra BJP legislature party leader at its meeting here on Wednesday, paving the way for his appointment as the chief minister.The swearing-in ceremony will be held in Mumbai on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders. Fadnavis’ name was finalised for the top post at the BJP’s core committee meet held here ahead of the legislature party meeting, sources said.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said leaders of the Mahayuti coalition will meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan at 3.30 pm on Wednesday to stake a claim to form government.Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were present at the BJP legislature party meeting held at the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai. The BJP had appointed Sitharaman and Rupani as central observers for the meet.On Tuesday, Fadnavis met caretaker Chief Minister Shinde at his official residence, ‘Varsha,’ here, the first in-person meeting since their discussions in Delhi last week for government formation.Notably, India Today and News18 both reported that Shinde had agreed to take up the Deputy Chief Minister’s position within the BJP-led new Mahayuti government.While the hour-long meeting between Shinde and Fadnavis yesterday details remain unclear, some political observers view it as an outreach effort by the BJP to placate an ally which is weighing its options, while others believe it served as a preliminary discussion regarding the swearing-in ceremony set for December 5.The BJP achieved remarkable success in the November 20 Maharashtra elections, securing 132 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state, marking its best performance in the state so far. Together with its allies — the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.
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