Uddhav Thackeray will be Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, ending the month-long political crisis

• Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray will be Maharashtra’s new Chief Minister.
• This is the first time that the Thackeray family will pull its political muscle in the frontline.
• The Union government imposed President's rule after all the three parties — BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP failed to form a coalition government.

The new government in Maharashtra will be formed under the leadership of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP president Sharad Pawar said on Friday.

Emerging from a marathon meeting of top leaders of the Congress, the NCP and the Sena, who are making efforts to form government in Maharashtra, Pawar said there was a consensus on Thackeray's leadership.

"There is a consensus that leadership of the government will be with Uddhav Thackeray," he told reporters after the meeting. He said the meeting at Nehru Centre in central Mumbai deliberated extensively on finalising an agenda for governance.

This is the first time that the Thackeray family will pull its political muscle in the frontline. The founder of the party Bal Thackeray had stayed away from active politics though he did have a say even as Sena candidates like Narayan Rane and Manohar Joshi were Chief ministers of the state.

Maharashtra’s political crisis

Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai, witnessed an unprecedented political crisis for the last 20 days. The winning coalition⁠— between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ⁠— collapsed despite a clear mandate in the assembly elections 2019.

The Governor of Maharashtra rejected Shiv Sena’s attempt to form the government after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party failed to get an assurance of support from its political and ideological adversaries the Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian National Congress.

The Shiv Sena indicated it might move the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision to decline extension of time sought by the Uddhav Thackeray-led party for submitting the "requisite letter of support" to prove its claim to form a government.

The Sena, which is trying to form a coalition government with the support of the NCP and the Congress, had failed to secure the letters from both the parties.

The Union Cabinet recommended President's rule in Maharashtra where no political party has been able to form a government after the assembly polls last month.

Sources said the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met to discuss the political impasse in Maharashtra and decided to recommend to the president to impose Central rule in the state.

With agency inputs