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Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister elect of Maharashtra who met Governor CP Radhakrishnan and staked claim to form government today, provided nuggets of his last evening's meeting with Eknath Shinde that airbrushed the recent logjam over government formation. Appearing before the media after the meeting with the Governor, both played down the two-week gap between the election results and the naming of the Chief Minister.
Giving "special thanks" to Eknath Shinde, Mr Fadnavis said, "Yesterday I requested Eknath Shinde to remain in the cabinet... which I hope he would... The Chief Minister post is just a technical agreement between us... we have been together to take decisions and will continue to do so".
"Two-and-a-half year ago, Fadnavis recommended my name to become the Chief Minister. This time, we recommend his name to become the Chief Minister," said Mr Shinde, who had gone off to his village in Satara after declaring that he would not be an "obstacle" to the BJP decision. Last evening, he was admitted in a hospital for what his team called a "routine check-up".
The meeting between the two contenders for the top post paved the way for the key BJP meet today where Mr Fadnavis was named for the position. It ends the two-week suspense over the top post that had drawn jeers from the Opposition.
With the BJP's massive score in the assembly election, Mr Fadnavis was seen by many as an automatic decision. But there was resistance from Mr Shinde's faction of the Shiv Sena, which pitched for a second innings for their chief.
The Sena claimed that it was the Shinde government's welfare schemes that steered the Mahayuti to victory.
Some of his leaders have openly questioned why Maharashtra cannot be another Bihar, where Nitish Kumar plays a dominant role despite better performance by the BJP in elections.
Even after Mr Shinde said he would accept whatever the BJP decides, some leaders of his party continued their push for the top post.
Mr Fadnavis, who was accompanied by allies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar for the meeting today, said: "We have submitted a claim to form a new cabinet in the state as per the rules. After the Governor accepted the claim, we have been given the time for the oath ceremony on December 5 at 5.30 pm, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
The decision on the cabinet and portfolios will be taken this evening, he added.