Devendra Fadnavis MIA in BJP's celebration of 'return to power in Maharashtra'

devendra fadnavis, maharashtra political crisis, maharashtra crisis, eknath shinde new chief ministe — Image Source : PTI
Devendra Fadnavis

Highlights

Fadnavis was missing in action during a celebration held at the state BJP headquarters in Mumbai
Fadnavis took oath as Deputy CM of Maharashtra Thursday, after saying he wont be part of govt
A close aide of the ex-CM said he was busy holding meetings at his residence

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was missing in action during a celebration held at the state BJP headquarters in Mumbai on Friday. The Central party has been celebrating its return to power in Maharashtra after two-and-half years following the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

Fadnavis, who had on Thursday announced that he would not be part of the new Eknath Shinde-led government but later took oath as deputy chief minister, did not attend the celebration.

A close aide of the former chief minister said he was busy holding meetings at his residence ahead of the two-day special session of the Maharashtra legislature from July 3.

Asked if Fadnavis would attend the national executive of the party that began in Hyderabad from Friday, a BJP functionary said, "He has spoken with our national leaders and informed them about the situation here. He would not attend the Hyderabad meeting as dates overlap with the legislature session."

Fadnavis would address a meeting of BJP legislators at a hotel here on Friday evening, sources said.

It was widely expected that Fadnavis, considered to be instrumental in engineering a split in the Shiv Sena which led to the collapse of the Sena-NCP-Congress government, would again become chief minister.

But on Friday evening, he announced in a press conference after meeting the governor that Shinde, the rebel Sena leader, would be the next CM, while he himself would not be part of the government. The BJP is the single largest party in the Assembly.