Ready to answer all questions raised by Fadnavis, not scared of anything: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who was on Tuesday named as the Chief Minister candidate of 'Maha Vikas Aghadi', an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, has said that he is ready to answer all questions raised by former chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as he is not "scared" of anything.

"I had never dreamed of leading the state. I would like to thank Sonia Gandhi and others. We are giving a new direction to country by keeping faith on each other... I am ready to answer all questions raised by Devendra Fadnavis. I am not scared of anything. Lies are not part of Hindutva. When you need, you hug us and when not needed, you leave us. You tried to keep us away," Thackeray said.

He continued, "I accept the responsibility given by all of you. I am not alone but you all are Chief Minister with me. What has happened today is the actual democracy. Together we will wipe off the tears of farmers in the state."

He further stated that the three parties - Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP - will together make the Maharashtra, which Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj dreamt of.

A resolution was passed at a joint meeting of the legislators of all the three parties which unanimously proposed the name of Uddhav Thackeray to lead the alliance government under the name of 'Maha Vikas Aghadi'. The meeting was held at Mumbai's Trident Hotel.

Hours after Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the state assembly, BJP's Fadnavis announced his resignation as Maharashtra's chief minister. Earlier in the day, his deputy, NCP's Ajit Pawar also resigned from the post, just three days after he was sworn in.

Addressing media persons after announcing his decision to step in, Fadnavis told reporters, "We realised that we don't have the required numbers to form the government."

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine had demonstrated a "show of strength" yesterday claiming support of 162 MLAs.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalidas Kolambkar on Tuesday took oath as the Pro-tem Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly here at Raj Bhavan.

On Wednesday in a special assembly session, Kolambkar is expected to swear in the new MLAs.