Amid political uncertainty and as the deadline to form a new government in Maharashtra ends midnight, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday evening tendered his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The Governor has accepted his resignation.

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis and other state ministers met the Maharashtra Governor at Raj Bhawan.

Addressing the media, Fadnavis thanked party workers and even Shiv Sena, with whom the BJP has been engaged in a cold war since the declaration of poll results.

“We managed to face a lot of challenges in the last five years with courage and vigour,” he said.

Devendra Fadnavis further asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never struck a “50-50” alliance deal with ally Shiv Sena.

He said that there were discussions with Shiv Sena over the 2.5 years CM demand but the talks had broken down and there were no agreements over the issue. Fadnavis also claimed that Sena stopped making contact with the BJP and instead kept talking to the NCP and Congress.

Fadnavis also accused Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray of going back on his words and shocking the people with his 2.5 years CM demand.

He said that there were never any talks of rotational Chief Ministership in his presence and that Shiv Sena has betrayed the mandate by making such demands. He added that Union minister Nitin Gadkari too confirmed the same after having a word with BJP chief Amit Shah.

Fadnavis further reminded its warring ally that even NCP chief Sharad Pawar had called for a BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government in Maharashtra.

Devendra Fadnavis will remain the acting Chief Minister till a new government is formed, or an alternative arrangement is made.

“A full-fledged government would have ensured better relief for farmers. The governor has requested me to remain the acting CM till the time an alternate arrangement is made. It is wrong to insult people’s mandate. It is wrong to impose an election on them,” Fadnavis said at the press conference.

On allegations of horse-trading by the opposition and Shiv Sena, Fadnavis challenged the parties to furnish proof or apologise for making such charges.

“BJP won’t resort to any politics of defection and poaching. We won’t need it,” he said.

Amid the political uncertainty in Maharashtra and unwilling to take any chances on potential poaching, the Shiv Sena on Thursday shifted all its 65 legislators to a private sea-facing hotel in suburban Bandra till the state political crisis is resolved.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has raised demand for the chief minister’s post on a rotational basis and implementation of a “50:50 power-sharing” formula, which entails equal allocation of ministerial portfolios.

However, both the demands have been rejected by the BJP.

The tenure of the existing assembly ends on November 9.