After 10-12 days of political drama, Eknath Shinde was finally sworn in as the Chief Minister on Thursday with the support of BJP. Until a few hours before his swearing in, people knew that Devendra Fadnavis would be the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shinde would be the Deputy Chief Minister. However, shortly before the swearing in ceremony, Devendra Fadnavis surprised everyone by holding a press conference. Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister. There were reports that Devendra Fadnavis was upset over not being made the Chief Minister. But several veteran BJP leaders, including top BJP leaders Amit Shah and JP Nadda, called the decision a sacrifice and surrender of Devendra Fadnavis.
Even so, the absence of many bigwigs, including Devendra Fadnavis, at the BJP's state office in Mumbai raised eyebrows. The BJP-backed government led by Eknath Shinde was sworn in yesterday. Everyone said that BJP's external support to Eknath Shinde's group was a political ploy. But after the order of the party leaders to keep Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy Chief Minister, nothing happened. A large section of BJP MLAs seemed unhappy with Fadnavis' decision. Devendra Fadnavis was also not very happy when he took the oath of office. In such a situation, the victory of the BJP was celebrated at the state office in Mumbai today. The absence of new Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP state president Chandrakant Patil, Ashish Shelar, Girish Mahajan and Prasad Lad was a big shock to all.