Mumbai:
Eknath Shinde, the outgoing Maharashtra Chief Minister, was taken to a Thane’s Jupiter Hospital Tuesday afternoon after doctors recommended a “full examination” of his health and medical status.
Mr Shinde – at the centre of a tug-of-war in the Maharashtra chief ministerial race – may be admitted, but sources played down talk of an emergency, explaining this is a “routine check-up”.
Mr Shinde himself spoke to reporters outside the hospital and said, “My health is fine.”
Amid deliberations between his outfit and the Bharatiya Janta Party – which is the single-largest in the Assembly and in pole position to name the next Chief Minister – Mr Shinde has been stationed in Thane since returning from a 48-hour visit last week to his hometown in Satara district.
Meanwhile – although the identity of the next Maharashtra Chief Minister remains an unknown and the three-party Mahayuti alliance that won the election hasn’t yet formally staked claim to government formation – preparations are underway for a grand oath-taking event on Thursday.
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Multiple sources told NDTV last week the BJP is expected to win the internal race; the party has 132 of the Maharashtra Assembly’s 288 seats while the Shinde Sena has 57 and Ajit Pawar’s NCP 41.
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Any leverage Mr Shinde may have had in 2022 – when he broke Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena ranks and allied with the BJP, directly ensuring the saffron party could form the government – is now absent.
READ | Eknath Shinde Now Where Uddhav Was In ’19, With Big Difference
And Ajit Pawar has backed the BJP’s chief ministerial bid, meaning a tweak of the existing formula is most likely. That is, the BJP will name a Chief Minister and the Sena and NCP one deputy each.
The BJP is scheduled to hold a meeting of its MLAs later today, at which Devendra Fadnavis, the former two-time Chief Minister and the man credited with the party’s big win, will likely be named to the top post. But the delay in confirming that speculation means rumour mills continue to spin.
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Mr Shinde has said publicly, twice, that he will not be an “obstacle” and that he has left the decision on who will be Chief Minister to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But repeated absences from Mumbai in the run-up to the big day, and the two-day retreat to Satara, have raised eyebrows.
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