Devendra Fadnavis takes the blame as he resigns after being Chief Minister for four days

• The mess in Maharashtra politics is untangling.
• Devendra Fadnavis resigns as Chief Minister after 4 days in power with support from NCP rebel Ajit Pawar.
• The rival coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party will pick their leader today.

The mess in Maharashtra politics is untangling. Devendra Fadnavis has resigned as the Chief Minister after four days in power with support from Ajit Pawar, the rebel leader from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The resignation by Fadnavis was forced by Ajit Pawar pulling out of the proposed coalition with the BJP. With that, the BJP will be short of the required number of legislators in the state assembly.

Even as he mocked his rivals, Fadnavis took the blame for the misadventure. He said that the decision, three days ago, to form the government with the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP was a decision of the state unit, thereby absolving the central leadership of the BJP i.e. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

Fadnavis' decision to resign has come just hours after the Supreme Court ordered the trust vote in the assembly, with a temporary speaker, to expedite government formation in the state. Despite the pre-poll alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena bagging a majority in the election, the two parties fell out soon after the results and pushed the state into President's rule.

Meanwhile, the rival coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress, and the NCP has got into a huddle to pick their leader. "Shiv Sena's Hindutva has bowed down in front of Congress Party's Sonia Gandhi," Fadnavis said mocking Uddhav Thackeray's attempts to stitch a coalition with its ideological rivals. "The three wheels of this new government will move in three different directions," he added.


This is how the unprecedented political crisis in Maharashtra played out in recent weeks.

October 24: BJP won 102 seats in the recent assembly elections but need a partner to reach the magic number of 145, to form the government. While Sena had won 56 seats, NCP won 54 seats and Congress won 44 seats. As Sena and BJP disagreed on seat sharing, endless discussions and delays led to a President’s rule in the state.

November 10: BJP says it will be unable to form the government while Shiv Sena seeks 24 hours to prove its ability. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party was looking to garner support from ideological rivals- the NCP and the Congress.

November 12: Governor rejects the Shiv Sena 's claim and the state is brought under President's rule.

November 23: Just when a coalition between Sena, Congress and NCP seemed imminent, Ajit Pawar sprung a surprise. In a dramatic turn of events, the leader of NCP's legislative party decides to back the BJP -- against the wishes of the party chief Sharad Pawar. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is sworn in as chief minister and Ajit Pawar takes oath as deputy chief minister in a hush-hush ceremony on Saturday.

November 24: The aggrieved coalition moves Supreme Court against the governor's decision.Mukul Rogatgi, the advocate on behalf of the Fadnavis asserted to the court that they are ready for a floor test. The BJP government submitted two letters to the Supreme Court, one of them include the letter submitted by Devendra Fadnavis to the governor. The letter had 54 signatures of NCP MLAs, and current deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s assurance that he will support the government for a stable government.

November 25: The Supreme Court ordered a trust vote in the assembly but just hours after the order, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar resign from their positions.

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