Maharashtra political crisis highlights: Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. Former CM Devendra Fadnavis took the oath as the Shinde's deputy. Shinde, who was camping in Guwahati with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, returned to Mumbai on from Goa on Thursday afternoon, following which he and Fadnavis met the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to stake claim to form the government. Later in the day Fadnavis announced that Shinde would be sworn in as the new chief minister today. Fadnavis had said he didn't want to be a part of the government. However, BJP's national president JP Nadda later said that that the party's leadership thought it was important for Fadnavis to be a part of the cabinet. On Wednesday, Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the Maharashtra chief minister, just after the Supreme Court refused to stay the Governor's directive to his government to take a floor test in the Assembly. Thackeray's resignation capped a week-long drama of resort politics, where rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by minister Eknath Shinde camped in luxury hotels and hopped on chartered jets from Mumbai to Surat and Guwahati, before landing in Goa on Wednesday night.

There is a new twist in the Maharashtra political potboiler. Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and not Devendra Fadnavis as was widely expected will take oath as the next chief minister of Maharashtra. Addressing a joint press conference, BJP leader and former chief minister Fadnavis announced that Shinde would be succeeding Uddhav Thackeray.

In yet another jolt to the Uddhav faction, two MLAs joined the Shinde camp ahead of the floor test, taking its tally to 40. The Shiv Sena currently has 55 MLAs in the 288-member state Assembly. Santosh Bangar, the MLA from Kalamnuri in the Hingoli district, and Shyamsunder Shinde switched over to the Shinde camp.

Apart from the salary every month, an MLA is given funds for the development of the area, which ranges from Rs 1 crore to Rs 8 crore every year.