BJP delegation, Fadnavis meet Maharashtra Governor to form state govt.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation, accompanied by newly-elected leader of the BJP legislative party Devendra Fadnavis, on Tuesday met the Maharashtra Governor Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao to stake claim to form government in the state.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs unanimously chose Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadvanis as their leader, thus paving the way for him to be invited to be the next chief minister of the state.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was the party's central observer, announced this decision after the meeting in Mumbai.

Both Fadnavis and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari were in the ring for the post, but Gadkari had ruled himself out after a meeting with top RSS leaders in Nagpur last week.

On Sunday, the BJP had announced that the party is willing to form the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the Shiv Sena.

Later, through an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, the party had expressed its willingness to support any person chosen by the BJP as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The BJP and Shiv Sena broke their 25-year old alliance ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls over seats sharing.

The BJP has emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra winning 122 of the 288 seats. The Shiv Sena finished second with 63 seats. The NCP has offered external support to the BJP if it forms a government in the state.