The month-long political drama in Maharashtra is set to end on Thursday with the swearing-in of a government to be formed by two opposition parties and a former ally of the BJP: the Congress Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thakeray will be sworn in as the head of the state at the historic Shivaji Park in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena chief will be the third leader from the party to occupy the position of chief minister.
Maharashtra briefly came under direct presidential rule, starting 12 November, but the nation's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), briefly wrested power, which however was short-lived as the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis quit ahead of a crucial trust vote on the prodding of the Supreme Court of India.
Following the elections in mid-October, BJP secured 105 seats out of 288 in the Assembly constituencies, but its alliance with Shiv Sena, fell flat as the latter sought a power-sharing formula, which was unacceptable to BJP. Finally BJP’s 15-year alliance with the like-minded Shiv Sena ended with the latter joining the opposite camp, bargaining in the process to head the government.
On Wednesday, a special session of the Maharashtra Assembly commenced following a Supreme Court’s order where the newly-elected legislators took the oath of office and secrecy. The political impasse over coalition-building following last month's state election had delayed the procedure of convening the assembly.
The new coalition has sorted out a power-sharing formula among them with Shiv Sena getting the Chief Minister’s post, the Nationalist Congress Party nominee named Deputy Chief Minister and the Congress Party getting the Speaker of the provincial legislature.
