Shinde, Fadnavis call on President Kovind, Rajnath; to meet PM Modi

Shinde began his day by offering floral tributes at the statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji, B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule at the Maharashtra Sadan here.

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis met President Ram Nath Kovind and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here on Saturday. The meetings followed lengthy deliberations over the power-sharing arrangement in Maharashtra between the BJP and the Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that began late Friday night and stretched till the wee hours of Saturday.

Shinde began his day by offering floral tributes at the statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji, B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule at the Maharashtra Sadan here. Shinde and Fadnavis then drove down to the Rashtrapati Bhawan for a meeting with Kovind, their first after assuming office on June 30. The two leaders then had a meeting with the defence minister at his residence. Shinde and Fadnavis, who assumed office on June 30, a day after the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray quit in the face of a massive rebellion, are also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

At the five-hour overnight meeting with Shah, the two Maharashtra leaders are learnt to have discussed the broad contours of the power-sharing formula between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena. "I am confident that under the guidance of Narendra Modi, both of you will serve the people faithfully and take Maharashtra to newer heights of development," Shah said on Twitter on Friday night.

The visit of Shinde and Fadnavis to the national capital comes ahead of a crucial hearing in the Supreme Court on July 11 on a petition filed by the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, seeking the disqualification of Shinde and 15 MLAs of his faction from the Assembly. "We have faith in the judiciary," Shinde told reporters here on Friday, asserting that the group led by him had the support of two-thirds of the Shiv Sena MLAs.

The Shiv Sena had 55 MLAs before the split triggered by Shinde's revolt. Nearly 40 Shiv Sena MLAs had backed Shinde, who also enjoys the support of Independent legislators and MLAs from smaller outfits. "The speaker has also granted us recognition," Shinde said, referring to the decision of the newly-elected speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Rahul Narwekar.

Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30 with the support of the BJP after he rebelled against Thackeray, walking out of the Shiv Sena with a large chunk of MLAs that led to the fall of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. Shinde won a trust vote in the Maharashtra Assembly on July 4. (PTI)