Mumbai, 4 Dec

Devendra Fadnavis was on Wednesday unanimously elected as Maharashtra BJP legislature party’s leader, paving the way for his swearing in as the chief minister for a third time.

Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and NCP’s Ajit Pawar will be sworn in as deputy chief ministers at the ceremony, to be held at the sprawling Azad Maidan in south Mumbai on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.

At the legislature party meeting held in Vidhan Bhawan on Wednesday, former Gujarat CM and BJP’s central observer Vijay Rupani announced that Fadnavis (54) has been unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader.

Speaking at the meeting, BJP’s central observer and Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the “double engine government” in the state and the Centre will boost development.

Fadnavis thanked the BJP legislators for reposing trust in him, adding that the thumping victory of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the 20 November Assembly elections was due to the mantra of “Ek hai toh safe hai” given by PM Modi.

At the Vidhan Bhawan meeting, senior state BJP leader Chandrakant Patil proposed the name of Fadnavis as the legislature party leader.

Fadnavis' name was finalised for the top post at the state BJP's core committee meet held here ahead of the legislature party meeting.

A delegation led by Fadnavis is expected to meet Governor CP Radhakrishnan at 3.30pm on Wednesday to stake claim to form the new government in the state.

The BJP achieved remarkable success in the November 20 Maharashtra elections, securing 132 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state, marking its best performance in the state so far.

Together with its allies Shiv Sena and NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.

On Tuesday, Fadnavis met caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence, 'Varsha,' in south Mumbai for the first time after their meeting in Delhi last week with Union minister Amit Shah.

BJP leader Prasad Lad said the swearing-in ceremony will be a grand affair with nearly 42,000 attendees. "PM Modi, nine to ten Union ministers, and 19 chief ministers and deputy chief ministers will attend the ceremony," he said.

Special arrangements have been made to accommodate 40,000 BJP supporters and a separate seating arrangement made for 2,000 VVIPs, including leaders from various religions, he said.