On a day when he continued to put up covert resistance to Bharatiya Janata Party’s plans to name its senior leader Devendra Fadnavis as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde on Tuesday tendered his resignation as the CM, to Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan after the completion of the five term of the outgoing government. However, the Governor asked Shinde to remain as the caretaker CM till the new government assumed office in the State.

Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, both of whom are Deputy CMs in the outgoing government, were present when Shinde tendered his resignation from his post as the CM to the Governor at Raj Bhavan. “The Governor has asked the Chief Minister to continue to hold the charge of his post till alternate arrangements are made,” a communiqué from Raj Bhavan said.

There was speculation during the past two days that Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar would meet Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah to formalise the nomination of the CM candidate. However, no such meeting has taken place during the last three days. With no intervention by the central BJP leadership, Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar stayed put in Mumbai, resulting in the delay in the nomination of a chief ministerial candidate.

Informed sources said that Shinde was yet to come to terms with the reality that the BJP’s central leadership preferred Fadnavis over him as the new chief minister of Maharashtra and that he (Shinde) would have no other choice but to accept the decision by the BJP’s leadership.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Dr. Ramdas Athawale went on record saying that the BJP’s central leadership had already conveyed to Shinde that it wanted Fadnavis to be the next chief minister. He advised Shinde to step aside to facilitate Fadnavis’ take over as the CM... “If he (Shinde) does not work under Fadnavis as the deputy chief minister, he should move to the Centre and become a Union Minister,” Athawale said.

However, the Shinde Sena leaders, including Deepak Kesarkar, gently rubbished Athawale for interfering in matters between their party and the BJP. In a related development, outgoing State Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar denied the speculation that Shinde was unhappy with the BJP’s decision to appoint Fadnavis. “Eknath Shinde is not at all unhappy. Nor is the Shinde Sena unhappy. Shinde has already made it clear to the central BJP leaders that he would accept whatever decision to be taken by them in matters relating to the formation of a new government. We are hopeful that the BJP’s central leadership will take a favourable decision”.

It may be recalled that the BJP-led Mahayuti staged a spectacular comeback in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, by winning 230 seats in the 288-member house. In the polls, the ruling BJP won an astounding 132 seats out of the total 288-member State Assembly, as against 57 seats won by the. Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 41 seats by the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On its part, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has reportedly thrown its weight behind Fadnavis for nomination as the next CM of the State.