Maharashtra government formation: Mahayuti partners to jointly decide on swearing-in modalities for December 5, says Alliance leader

The Mahayuti constituents in Maharashtra will sit together and decide whether only the chief minister and deputy CMs will take oath on December 5 or ministers will also be sworn in a senior leader of the alliance said on Sunday reported news agency PTIThe oathtaking ceremony of the new Mahayuti government in Maharashtra will take place on December 5 evening at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend it state Bharatiya Janata Party BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said on SaturdayWhile there was no announcement yet on who would be the chief minister BJP sources said Devendra Fadnavis who has been chief minister twice and was deputy CM in the last Eknath Shindeled government was the frontrunner for the post reported PTIThe Mahayuti allies Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party NCP have already declared Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as their legislature party leaders respectively However the BJP which is the largest Mahayuti constituent is yet to name its legislature party leaderAhead of the Maharashtra government formation NCP chief Ajit Pawar on Saturday said the chief minister will be from the BJP while there will be deputy CMs from the two allies his party and the Shiv Sena Pawar was a deputy CM in the last governmentTalking to PTI on Sunday Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said it has been announced that the swearingin ceremony will take place on December 5But the BJP legislature party leader hasnt been appointed yet We will sit together and decide whether only chief minister and deputy chief ministers will take oath or ministers will also be swornin the Lok Sabha member from Raigad said reported PTIA senior BJP leader said it was decided on Saturday that its legislature party leader will be chosen at 1 pm on December 2But now it looks like the meeting may be postponed to December 3 or 4 said the leader who did not wish to be named reported PTIWhen contacted senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said he was in Nashik and had not been informed about the swearingin ceremonyOur leaders Ajit Pawar Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare havent given us any information he said reported PTIMaharashtras caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who took ill at his native village in Satara district is recovering and will return to Mumbai on Sunday evening an associate said earlier in the dayA team of doctors checked on Shinde as he developed a high fever on SaturdayThe Shiv Sena leader headed to his native village Dare in Satara district on Friday amid speculation that he was not happy with the way the new state government was shaping up reported PTIThe Mahayuti alliance of the BJP Shiv Sena and NCP retained power with a landslide victory in the assembly elections the results of which were announced on November 23While the simple majority figure in the 288member House is 145 the BJP alone bagged 132 seats followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seatsHowever the Maharashtra government formation has been delayed as the alliance failed to evolve a consensus on who would be the chief ministerThough Shinde appeared to have ceded claim to the top post indications that there were still some points of disagreements emerged when a meeting of the allies here on Friday was put off and he instead left for his village DareThe NCP has already stated that Fadnavis was acceptable to it as chief ministerWith inputs from PTI