Mumbai, 30 Nov

The new government of the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra will be formed on 5 December with Devendra Fadnavis emerging as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister, a senior BJP leader said on Saturday.

In the 20 November Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), retained power, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 Assembly seats. The BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.

However, even after the announcement of poll results on 23 November, no decision has been made on who will be the chief minister. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president JP Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late Thursday to thrash out a power-sharing pact for the next government in Maharashtra.

A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation.

The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on 5 December.

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the front-runner for the top post, the leader said.

But there is no word yet on when the BJP legislature party will meet to elect its new leader.

Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership’s decision to name the next CM, and that he won't be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister's post.