Eknath Shinde formally takes charge of Maharashtra CMO

MUMBAI, (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde formally took the charge of Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Thursday in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Shinde on Monday won the floor test in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House.

In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it. Three legislators abstained from voting, while Congress’s Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar were among those absent during the trust vote.

Shinde was sworn in as CM on June 30, a day after Uddhav Thackeray quit the post. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM. Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was on Sunday elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly during the first day of its special session.

Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.The Speaker’s post was lying vacant since February last year after Nana Patole of the Congress resigned.

Narvekar (45) is the youngest ever Assembly Speaker in the country, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.Last month, Eknath Shinde launched a rebellion against the party. The majority of MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Eknath Shinde was last week sworn in as the 20th chief minister of Maharashtra, while BJP stalwart Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy CM. (ANI)