The Bharatiya Janata Party is learnt to have conveyed to the Shiv Sena that it will not accept any other Shiv Sena leader as the deputy chief minister other than Eknath Shinde. The stand comes a day after Shinde virtually paved the way for Devendra Fadnavis’ appointment as the chief minister and claimed he will abide by any decision of the NDA’s top leadership with regard to government formation in Maharashtra.

At a winter afternoon surprise press conference called by Eknath Shinde on Wednesday, he virtually relinquished his Chief Ministerial ambitions for the second time and paved the way for Devendra Fadnavis even before his party leadership could make a case for him.

After three days of resistance to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's government formation plans in the state, a reconciled care-taker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday extended his full support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take all decisions required for the formation of a new government in Maharashtra,

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is expected to be named as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra anytime soon. As the confirmation is still awaited on his name, the clarity came after outgoing CM and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde hinted that he would not be an "obstacle" and accept the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as "final".