At the legislature party meeting held in Vidhan Bhawan on Wednesday, former Gujarat CM and BJP's central observer Vijay Rupani announced that Fadnavis (54) has been unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader

Speaking at the meeting, BJP's central observer and Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the "double engine government" in the state and the Centre will boost development

Fadnavis thanked the BJP legislators for reposing trust in him, adding that the thumping victory of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the November 20 assembly elections was due to the mantra of ¿Ek hai toh safe hai¿ given by PM Modi

On Tuesday, Fadnavis met caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence, 'Varsha,' in south Mumbai for the first time after their meeting in Delhi last week with Union minister Amit Shah

At the Vidhan Bhawan meeting, senior state BJP leader Chandrakant Patil proposed the name of Fadnavis as the legislature party leader

Fadnavis' name was finalised for the top post at the state BJP's core committee meet held here ahead of the legislature party meeting

A delegation led by Fadnavis is expected to meet Governor C P Radhakrishnan at 3.30 pm on Wednesday to stake claim to form the new government in the state

The BJP achieved remarkable success in the November 20 Maharashtra elections, securing 132 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state, marking its best performance in the state so far

Together with its allies Shiv Sena and NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats