A press conference in which Devendra Fadnavis announced that he would take oath as the Maharashtra chief minister at 5.30 pm on Thursday, capping days of speculation, also served as the stage for some banter between allies, with Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde taking a light-hearted dig at NCP President Ajit Pawar.
Refusing to clear the air on whether he would take up the post of deputy chief minister under Devendra Fadnavis after being seen as a claimant for the top job, a visibly exasperated Mr Shinde said during the press conference on Wednesday that he would let people know later.
When Mr Pawar interjected to say that he would definitely take oath as one of the deputy chief ministers and nothing would stop him, eliciting laughter, Mr Shinde quipped, clapping his hands: “Dada ko anubhav hai, subah bhi lene ka aur shaam ko bhi lene ka (He has experience taking oath in the morning and the evening).”
Joining in the fun, Mr Pawar said in Marathi – barely controlling his laughter – that the last time he and Mr Fadnavis took oath in the morning, they could not run a government for long and that they would stay for the entire term of five years this time.
Both Mr Shinde and the NCP chief were talking about 2019 when Mr Pawar, who was still part of the united NCP led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister in an early morning ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
This dispensation lasted all of 80 hours after Ajit Pawar could not manage to get the support of enough NCP MLAs to align with the BJP and a government of the united Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress was then formed with Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister. Ajit Pawar was the deputy chief minister in this government as well.
The Thackeray government, however, also did not last its full term after a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who split the Shiv Sena in 2022 and went on to become the chief minister. Mr Pawar then rebelled himself, splitting the NCP, and took oath as the deputy chief minister – alongside Devendra Fadnavis – the next year.
In Wednesday’s press conference, Mr Shinde also thanked Mr Fadnavis for meeting him on Tuesday and asking him to be part of the government but said he would make his intentions clear later, given that there was still some time for the swearing-in ceremony.
The oath ceremony will take place at Azad Maidan in Mumbai and will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of other BJP and NDA leaders in attendance.
