Caretaker CM Shinde recovering from fever, to return to Mumbai today

Maharashtra's caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who took ill at his native village in Satara district, is recovering and will return to Mumbai on Sunday evening, an associate said.

A team of doctors checked on Shinde as he developed high fever on Saturday.

The Shiv Sena leader headed to his native village Dare in Satara district on Friday amid speculation that he was not happy with the way the new state government was shaping up.

Shinde had fever and throat infection, his family doctor R M Parte told news channels on Saturday.

"He has been given medicines and put on IV (intra-venous therapy for medication). He will feel better in two days. He is leaving for Mumbai on Sunday," Dr Parte said.

A close aide of Shinde on Sunday also said the caretaker CM has been under the weather for sometime and developed fever on Saturday.

Shinde is recovering and will return to Mumbai in the evening, the associate added.

The swearing-in of the new Mahayuti government in Maharashtra will take place on December 5 evening at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the oath-taking ceremony, he said.

While there was no announcement yet on who would be the chief minister, BJP sources said Devendra Fadnavis, who has been chief minister twice and was deputy CM in the last Eknath Shinde-led government, was the frontrunner for the post.

The Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retained power with a landslide victory in the assembly elections, the results of which were announced on November 23.

While the simple majority figure in the 288-member House is 145, the BJP alone bagged 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.

But the government formation was delayed as the alliance failed to evolve a consensus on who would be the chief minister.