New Delhi: The BJP on Monday named Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani as central observers for its Maharashtra legislature party’s meeting on December 4, where the MLAs will elect Maharashtra Legislative Party leader who is likely to be the state’s next chief minister.
Though the results were announced on November 23, it took a long time for the BJP to elect its Legislative Party leader as first it was not certain if the party would stake a claim to the post of chief minister.
However, as the demand for taking over the post grew within the BJP and it also found support for it from the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, there was a flurry of activity, including a meeting of Shinde and Pawar with Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi last week, in which the contours of the next government are learnt to have been worked out.
Subsequently, on Sunday, a senior BJP leader was quoted by PTI as saying, “The name of Devendra Fadnavis has been finalised as the new chief minister of Maharashtra. The meeting to elect the new BJP legislature party meeting will be held on either December 2 or 3.”