Fadnavis named Leader of Oppn

MUMBAI: Former chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis was appointed as the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly on Sunday.

Nana Patole, the newly appointed Speaker of the House, made the announcement.chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior leaders of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress congratulated Fadnavis.

Soon after the announcement, the Assembly witnessed a war of words between chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and his predecessor Fadnavis as the former taunted that he was in the House though he never said “Me punha yein” (I will come back), an election slogan of the BJP leader who retorted that he will return as CM and they only have to wait for some time. “I will not hesitate to admit that we have been good friends for a long time. Had you listened to us, I would have been sitting at home watching today’s developments on TV,” Thackeray said in his congratulatory speech after Fadnavis’ election, adding, “I never said I will come back, but I came in this House.”

NCP’S Jayant Patil also took a swipe at Fadnavis and said,“he [Fadnavis] said he would return, but didn’t say where he’ll sit [in the House].”

Fadnavis, 49, had resigned on

Tuesday, three days after taking oath as CM. He formed a government with support of a splinter group led by NCP’S Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as deputy CM. But both of them resigned a day before a trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court as they couldn’t muster up the numbers. Ajit Pawar has since returned to NCP.