Devendra Fadnavis has resigned as Maharashtra Chief Minister a day before he was to face a floor test ordered by the Supreme Court. His announcement followed that of Ajit Pawar, who quit as his deputy. "Ajit Pawar gave me his resignation. BJP had decided from the first day we will not indulge in horse trading. We only decided to form government because NCP was with us. Since he has resigned, I will also resign," Mr Fadnavis told reporters.
"The BJP had the people's mandate. We tried to form a government according to the people's mandate but the Shiv Sena realized it was a numbers game and we realized their bargaining power could increase," he added.
The resignation came after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the two top leaders of the BJP, right after the Supreme Court ordered Mr Fadnavis to face a trust vote.
The BJP and Shiv Sena had fought the Maharashtra Assembly election as an alliance but parted ways after the results were announced over sharing the chief ministerial post. As the parties reached an impasse, Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress came together to stake claim. However, in a surprise move on Saturday, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari swore-in Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as the chief minister and the deputy chief minister respectively. The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine challenged this at the Supreme Court with a petition claiming that the Governor was "duty bound" to study the claim of Mr Fadnavis before inviting him to form the government. This was especially the case when the Sena, NCP and the Congress expressed their intention to stake claim to form the government, they said.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi last night gathered their MLAs at a 5-star hotel in the suburbs of Mumbai for a show of strength and administered an "oath of allegiance". "I will not fall prey to any offer. I will not help the BJP in anyway. I will not indulge in any anti-party activities," the MLAs repeated, with a palm-out salute as they pledged not to betray their parties.
