BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will be the new chief minister of Maharashtra. The dramatic announcement came after Fadnavis and Shinde met Governor BS Koshyari at Raj Bhavan.

It was considered a foregone conclusion that Fadnavis will become the CM for the third time, in alliance with the Shinde-led Sena rebels.

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Earlier, Shinde rebelled against Shiv Sena President and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and formed his own group.

Soon after BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis announced that Eknath Shinde would be the new chief minister of Maharashtra, Shinde said, “The decision which we took today is for the Hindutva and ideology of Balasaheb along with the agenda of development in the constituencies of our MLAs.”

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Earlier, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis said rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will take oath as the new Maharashtra Chief Minister at 7.30 pm today. Fadnavis also said that he would not be a part of the new government.

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On Wednesday, Thackeray announced his resignation from the CM post. His announcement came minutes after the Supreme Court refused to stay Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government to take a floor test in the Assembly on Thursday.