Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis takes the oath of office

On Thursday, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis both took the oath of office to become Maharashtra's new chief ministers.

Everyone was taken aback earlier by Fadnavis' announcement that Eknath Shinde will succeed him as Maharashtra's chief minister and that he would leave the cabinet. He eventually decided to serve in the state cabinet after J P Nadda, the BJP National President, personally pushed him to do so.

After meeting with Shinde and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan, Fadnavis spoke with reporters and indicated that later on, the cabinet will be expanded to include some dissident Sena MLAs, BJP lawmakers, and Independents.

The political drama which went on for weeks began after the MLC election results were declared on June 21. On the night of the results, Eknath Shinde along with over 15 MLAs left for Surat where they camped for a few days.

As the crisis further unfolded, more MLAs of Shiv Sena rebelled against the top leader leadership and the MVA govt and joined Shinde's camp. A few days later, BJP became active and Devendra Fadnavis met Governor demanding a floor test reiterating that the MVA government didn't have the numbers.

Soon after Supreme Court refused to stay the floor test, Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post of CM saying he was not interested in the numbers game.