Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, along with Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Fadnavis had earlier surprised everyone when he announced that Eknath Shinde will be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra and that he will not be part of the government.
However, his decision not to take part in the state cabinet changed after BJP National president J P Nadda had personally urged him to be the Deputy. The 2.5-year (approx 31 months) tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed after over 40 MLAs mostly of Shiv Sena and independents rebelled against the coalition government.The political drama which went on for weeks began after the MLC election results were declared on June 21. On the night of the results, Eknath Shinde along with over 15 MLAs left for Surat where they camped for a few days.