Sharad Pawar congratulates Eknath Shinde on becoming Maharashtra CM, shares expectations

After BJP's Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced that Eknath Shinde will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar congratulated the rebel leader stating that he would safeguard the interests of the people. He also expressed his happiness over someone from the Satarkar community becoming the CM after a long period of time.

According to sources, Republic TV has learned that the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) governemnt ally NCP will also attend the oath-taking ceremony of Eknath Shinde as Chief Minister of Maharashtra at 7:30 pm. However, Uddhav Thackery-led Shiv Sena will not attend the ceremony.

Sharad Pawar Congratulates Eknath Shinde

Taking to Twitter, Pawar tweeted in Marathi which can be roughly translated as, "Congratulations to Mr. Eknath Shinde on his election as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra! I sincerely hope that the interests of Maharashtra will be safeguarded by him"

In yet another tweet, the NCP chief stated, "After late Yashwantrao Chavan, Babasaheb Bhosale, and Prithviraj Chavan, I am happy that another Satarkar has taken over as the Chief Minister".

Eknath Shinde To Be New Chief Minister Of Maharashtra

In a joint press briefing, Devendra Fadnavis announced that BJP Legislature Party and the Shiv Sena Legislature Party, under Eknath Shinde, along with 16 independent MLAs have come together to form the government. Shinde will lead the government as the Chief Minister, Fadnavis further announced, adding that he will see to the functioning of the government from 'outside'

 "Under the leadership of Eknath Shindeji we will take the development forward in the state. Whether it is OBC reservation, Maratha reservation, we will certainly take all these issues to end. I am sure that this government will do it," said Fadnavis. 

In his address to the media, Fadnavis said, "Eknath Shinde has made a claim to form the government. Our party has supported Eknath Shinde. At 7:30 pm, Eknath Shinde Ji will swear in as the next CM. From our MLAs, opportunities will be given and there will be expansion. I will be out of the government, but it will be my responsibility too to see that this government runs." He further added that  If he wanted to go to the Centre, he could have gone anytime since 2019, but he has resisted all such attempts.

(Image: PTI/ANI)