Hours after rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said in a press conference on Thursday, 30 June, that nobody expected Shinde to be appointed to the top post.
While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis had earlier decided to stay out of the Cabinet, he took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister.
He said that the rebel MLAs and Shinde himself were expecting that he would take up the Deputy CM post. The NCP chief said,
"I don't think that the one who led MLAs to Assam had expected more than the post of Deputy CM. But in BJP, as per order - be it from Delhi or Nagpur - CM post has been given to Eknath Shinde...The person who was CM and LoP has been asked to take oath as Deputy CM. It's shocking."