Maharashtra: Eknath Shinde Elected Leader Of Shiv Sena Legislative Party

Eknath Shinde was elected the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party. Shinde was elected unanimously by the newly-elected Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursday. According to reports, Shinde's name was proposed by Aaditya Thackeray. Shinde, a minister in the outgoing Devendra Fadnavis government, was the incumbent legislative party leader of party.

After the meeting, Shinde will lead a delegation of Shiv Sena leaders including Aaditya Thackeray, Diwakar Raote and Subhash Desai to meet Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 6.15 pm later in the day. 

Aaditya Thackeray was one of the favourites to be elected as the leader. However, according to sources in Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray did not want Aaditya to take up the responsibility as the deputy chief minister or a minister immediately. Aaditya Thackeray became the first member of the Thackeray clan to fight elections as he was elected as MLA from Worli seat in the assembly elections.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats in the elections. BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won a majority in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, with the former emerging as the single-largest party with 105 seats.  However, the alliance is yet to sort out their differences over the power equation for the state government formation.