Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the 18th chief minister of Maharashtra at a grand ceremony held at Central Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Thursday evening. He was administered oath by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at 6.40 pm.
Thackeray will lead the government of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi—an alliance of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress—which was formed after over a month-long political uncertainty in the state. Six other MLAs—two each from the three parties—were also sworn in as ministers along with Thackeray.
While senior Shiv Sena leaders Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai took oath in the ceremony, from the NCP, party state unit chief Jayant Patil and senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal were sworn in as ministers.
From the Congress, its Maharashtra unit president Balasaheb Thorat and former state minister Nitin Raut were sworn in as ministers. “Congratulations to Uddhav Thackeray Ji on taking oath as the CM of Maharashtra. I am confident he will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post. He faces the biggest test of his life as the leader of an ideologically divergent alliance that took charge at a time of momentous political changes in the state. Thursday’s swearing-in was different from the previous occasions in Maharashtra politics given that Uddhav is the first Thackeray from his clan who is taking oath as a public representative and, that too, as the CM.
Wearing a vermilion red-coloured Kurta, Uddhav arrived at Shivaji Park at 6.35 pm, five minutes before the start of the ceremony. He was accompanied by his wife Rashmi, legislator-son Aaditya and younger son Tejas. The iconic Shivaji Park ground, where Thackeray addresses his party’s annual Dussehra rallies, was fully packed with the supporters of the three parties. Before taking oath of office, Thackeray paid tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his parents—late Balasaheb and Meenatai Thackeray.
The stage, designed by acclaimed art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai, was packed with who’s who of Indian politics. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, his daughter-MP Supriya Sule, party leaders Praful Patel and Ajit Pawar, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, K.C. Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, Kapil Sibbal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Prithviraj Chavan, Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, DMK leader M.K. Stalin were present at the ceremony.
Uddhav is likely to take charge at the chief minister’s sixth floor office in Mantrayala on Friday. Interestingly, among the leaders who were given oath of office on Thursday, Uddhav is the only one who has no previous ministerial or legislative experience. He will now have to be elected to the state legislature within six months.
The decision to elect Thackeray as nominee for CM’s post was taken at a joint meeting of the three parties at a Mumbai hotel, hours after the four-day-old BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis and supported by NCP’s Ajit Pawar collapsed on Tuesday.
Fadnavis took oath as the CM and Ajit as deputy CM in a dramatic move on Saturday morning even as the Aghadi parties were holding hectic parleys to form government in the state. However, hours before a Supreme Court-mandated floor test, both Ajit and Fadnavis resigned, paving way for the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance to form government.
Maharashtra was placed under President’s Rule as no party or alliance could form a government for want of requisite numbers even weeks after the results of the assembly polls were declared on October 24. After felling out with its ally BJP over the demand for the post of the chief minister for an equal term, the Shiv Sena reached out to the Congress-NCP combine for support. In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP has 105 MLAs, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. The halfway mark is 145.
