With both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah clear that Fadnavis was their choice to head what will be the first single-party-led government in the state after two decades of coalition rule, the BJP put its formal stamp on his name on Tuesday.

Fadnavis was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party. After his election, he along with senior BJP leaders drove to the Raj Bhavan and gave a formal letter to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao staking claim to form the government. The CM-designate will be sworn in at the Wankhede stadium on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

TOI has categorically said, from the day the assembly poll results were declared on October 19, that state BJP chief Fadnavis would be the next CM.(KH)