Eknath Shinde to remain Maharashtra CM: BJP sources

Eknath Shinde will continue as chief minister of Maharashtra as the BJP will lose credibility in case he is removed and no one would be willing to go along with it, said a senior BJP leader on Monday, dismissing speculation and claims made by the Uddhav Thackeray camp and the Congress that Ajit Pawar had been promised the CM's post.

After Sunday’s political developments, Eknath Shinde’s fate appears to be bleak. Going by legal experts’ opinions on the disqualification of Shiv Sena legislators, the chances of him continuing as chief minister are slim, and the BJP’s move to ally with the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP appears to corroborate this.An official from the state legislature said that if the speaker acted in accordance with the framework set by the apex court, Shinde and his MLAs could be disqualified. “After consultation with constitutional experts, the legislature realised what a Herculean task it had before it,” he said. “The delay in sending notices to members from both sides was due to this. The BJP’s act of finding a new ally was also perhaps due to this realisation. According to opposition leaders Sanjay Raut and Prithviraj Chavan, Ajit Pawar had been assured of the chief ministership as part of his negotiation with the BJP to split the NCP and join the government. The leaders also insisted that the speaker would have to take a decision on disqualification by August 11, which marks three months of the Supreme Court order. “The speaker will have to disqualify Shinde and 15 other MLAs from his faction, compelling Shinde to step down from the post,” said Raut.