Mumbai: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray took oath Thursday as the 18th chief minister of Maharashtra.
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मी उद्धव बाळासाहेब ठाकरे… pic.twitter.com/rgbiHoFzlX
— Office of Uddhav Thackeray (@OfficeofUT) November 28, 2019
Uddhav, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post. He took over as chief minister over a month after results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were declared October 24.
Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai (both Shiv Sena), Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal (both NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both Congress) were sworn in as ministers.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered oath to Uddhav and the six ministers at the ceremony held at Shivaji Park, the venue of Shiv Sena’s Dussehra rallies.
Before Uddhav left for the swearing in ceremony he paid obeisance to his late father and Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray.
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Those present at the ceremony included Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Mallikarjun Kharge, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and DMK leader MK Stalin.
Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his cousin and MP Supriya Sule, Uddhav’s wife Rashmi, his MLA-son Aaditya and industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita were also among those who attended the ceremony.
The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance and now they will govern Maharashtra after the Uddhav -led party fell out with pre-poll ally BJP over sharing the chief ministerial post.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Maharashtra Assembly elections winning 105 seats. The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress won 56, 54 and 44 seats respectively in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
Thursday’s swearing in ceremony follows days of dramatic political developments, which included a three-day government formed by unexpected support from NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who has since returned to the Sharad Pawar-led party fold.
There was speculation that Ajit Pawar would be sworn in again as the deputy chief minister Thursday but only two NCP ministers took oath at the ceremony. Sources belonging both to the Shiv Sena and NCP stated however, that Ajit will indeed by the deputy CM again and will be sworn in at a later date.
Congress will be given the post of Speaker, for which the name of former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is being speculated.
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