Maharashtra govt formation live updates: SC to hear Sena-Congress-NCP petition at 11:30 am today

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will address a joint press conference at 12:30 pm on Saturday. This comes after BJP's Devendra Fadnavis earlier this morning took oath as the Maharashtra chief minister for the second consecutive term while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister of the state. The oath was administered by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to Fadnavis and Pawar at Raj Bhawan. Following the formation of the government, President's Rule was revoked in Maharashtra. Read more

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said Nationalist Congress party president Sharad Pawar and his daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule should join the Union Cabinet of Prime mInister Narendra Modi and help strengthen the country and the Bharatiya Janata Party government with their experience and knowledge. Sharad Pawar may have been informed by the BJP and told to keep quiet and let things continue as per the wishes of the people of the state and country, Athawale said.

Sanjay Raut's knack for poetry backfired when in a dramatic twist on Saturday morning BJP formed government in Maharashtra along with the support of the NCP leader Ajit Pawar who, until last night, was expected to support Shiv Sena. Exactly an hour before the oath-taking ceremony, the Shiv Sena leader tweeted in Hindi — "Jiss jiss per ye jag hasa hai, ussi ne itihaas racha hai (The laughing stocks are the ones who create history)." Read more

The Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a "betrayal of people's mandate". The month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically on Saturday with the BJP's Fadnavis returning as the chief minister, backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). "This is called betrayal of people's mandate and giving contract for killing democracy," Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.

Devendra Fadnavis will deliver a stable government once again. The government formation is result of a mature democracy!

Party says since Ajit Pawar is the legislature party leader, his support letter means of all 54 party MLAs!