“People had given us a clear mandate, but Shiv Sena tried to ally with other parties after results, as a result President’s rule was imposed. Maharashtra needed a stable govt not a ‘khichdi’ government,” Fadnavis told ANI.

BJP, with 105 seats forged alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party which bagged 54 seats to garner the majority figure.

NCP’s Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday. Earlier, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed that there was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the alliance government.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister’s post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President’s Rule was imposed in the state.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.