Devendra Fadnavis Resigns As Maharashtra Chief Minister, Says Sena's Hindutva Has Bowed To Sonia Gandhi

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis resigned as Maharashtra Chief Minister on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court ordered him to prove his majority in the state assembly on Wednesday. Lashing out at the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance which has cobbled together a majority to keep the BJP out, Mr Fadnavis said his party was "not going to indulge in horse-trading". Mr Fadnavis' resignation also followed that from Nationalist Congress Leader (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy. Ajit Pawar had supported BJP as leader of the 54-member NCP legislature party and with his resignation earlier
in the day, the government has lost majority, Mr Fadnavis said.

Here are the highlights of Devendra Fadnavis' speech announcing his resignation:

Maharashtra poll mandate was more for BJP than Shiv Sena.

But since we fought lesser seats, we got the number that we have. Should we have contested all the seats, it would have been a different story.

But Shiv Sena knew that contesting together by dividing seats would only help their bargaining power.

Shiv Sena threatened us over Chief Minister's post.

Let me make it clear - We never ever promised them what they claimed after the result was declared.

The Shiv Sena wanted something that was not negotiable.

They started talking to other parties - the NCP and Congress.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - 3 parties with completely different ideologies - came together just so that they could keep the BJP out.

The common minimum programme is just an eyewash.

Shiv Sena's Hindutva has bowed to Sonia Gandhi.

Ajit Pawar had a letter of support, but then things changed. This lead to his resignation earlier this afternoon after the latest developments.

We don't have majority after Ajit Pawar's resignation as Deputy Chief Minister.

We realised we don't have the numbers and we don't want to indulge in horse trading.

Looking at the current scenario, I also resign as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. I thank the people of Maharashtra for giving me the opportunity to serve them.

We work for the people and they are the ones who matter. We in the BJP don't indulge in wrong practices.

These other parties have just 1 agenda - Keep the BJP out. That is all they care about.

We care about the people and the development of the country.

We will continue our good work. We will be a strong and effective opposition.

The mandate was for the BJP. The numbers say so absolutely clearly. This has not been respected.

I am happy and thankful to my party for trusting in me. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and woking president JP Nadda for their trust in me.

After this press conference I will go straight to the governor and submit my resignation.

However the next government is formed, whoever leads, I can say this for sure that this will be a very unstable government. The wheels of this government will head in 3 different directions.