What happened with Fadnavis was not 'unexpected': Maharashtra BJP chief

There was nothing unexpected about Devendra Fadnavis becoming Deputy Chief Minister in the new government in Maharashtra, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said on Friday.

In a dramatic sequence of events a day before, Fadnavis, a former chief minister, announced that rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde would be the next CM while he would stay out of the government. But later, he took oath as Shinde's deputy.

"I am aware that many people were shocked by the events yesterday. But there was nothing unexpected in what happened with Devendra Fadnavis," Patil told reporters here. "BJP decided to support Shinde for CM's post for taking the Hindutva ideology ahead. But Shinde himself asked Fadnavis to join his cabinet. So Fadnavis asked our leaders in Delhi for permission," he said. "You need a truly large heart to work under a person who was your junior earlier," Patil said, praising Fadnavis.

Shinde was a minister when Fadnavis headed the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government in the state from 2014 to 2019.