Uddhav Thackeray is all set to become the next chief minister of Maharashtra after the Maha Vikas Aghadi—the alliance of the Sena, the Congress and the NCP—unanimously passed a resolution proposing his name at a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. Uddhav, along with the legislature party leaders of the three parties, later met Governor B.K. Koshyari to stake claim to form government in the state.
The swearing-in of the new government, which was earlier scheduled to December 1, has been advanced to November 28.
At the meeting of the three parties, held at Hotel Trident in the city, senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde moved a resolution to officially name their alliance as 'Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi'. Both the NCP and the Congress supported the resolution. Later, Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil proposed Uddhav's name as "the (next) chief minister", which was seconded by state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat.
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"I had never dreamed of leading the state. I would like to thank (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and others. We are giving a new direction to the country by keeping faith on each other," Uddhav said at the meeting.
"Parties with different ideologies have come together...those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me," he further said.
Uddhav said his government will not seek “revenge” against anyone. “I will go to Delhi to meet my 'elder brother' once the government is formed,” he said in apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had called the Sena chief his “younger brother” during the election campaign.
According to unconfirmed reports, Balasaheb Thorat (Congress) and Jayant Patil (NCP) are likely to be sworn in as deputy chief ministers. The three-party alliance claims to have the support of 162 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.
Uddhav will be the first from the Thackeray family to assume a government post. His father late Bal Thackeray wielded the 'remote control' over the first Sena-BJP combine government during 1995-99 but never assumed a position in the government.
Earlier, the four-day-old BJP government collapsed after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar resigned, hours after the Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the Assembly on Wednesday.
Fadnavis was sworn in on November 23 in an early morning hush hush ceremony, with the support of Ajit, who then headed the 54-member NCP legislature party.
Governor Koshyari has called a special session of the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday where newly-appointed pro-tem speaker Kalidas Kolambkar will administer oath to the newly-elected members. The special session will begin at 8 am.
Kolambkar was appointed the pro-tem speaker by the governor on Tuesday evening on directions of the Supreme Court.
