After almost two weeks of hectic parleys, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis will take oath as the new Maharashtra Chief Minister on Thursday at a grand ceremony at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde will also take the oath as Deputy CMs along with Fadnavis today. The invitation letter of the oath-taking ceremony mentioned that a few more ministers will take oath along with the CMs and Deputy CMs.
Guests at Fadnavis' oath-taking ceremony
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the ceremony. Besides PM Modi, 9-10 Union Ministers, 19 CMs and Deputy CMs will also participate in the grand ceremony, as per BJP leader Prasad Lad. He added that around 40,000 BJP supporters will be present at the event.
Devendra Fadnavis stakes claim to form government
On Wednesday, Devendra Fadnavis was elected as the Leader of the Maharashtra BJP Legislative Party. Following this, he, along with Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, met Governor CP Radhakrishnan to formally stake a claim to form the government.
Further, Fadnavis thanked Shinde and Pawar for supporting the government formation. "I am thankful to former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for extending Shiv Sena's support through a formal letter, enabling my swearing-in as Chief Minister."
He added that the designation of CM and Deputy CM is a technical arrangement at best and that all decisions will be made collectively to ensure good governance.
Maharashtra election results 2024
In the recently held elections, the Mahayuti won 232 seats. BJP bagged 132 seats, Shiv Sena (Shinde) won 57 and Ajit Pawar's NCP 41 seats, respectively. Two smaller parties of the alliance bagged 1 seat each.
Massive turnaround for Devendra Fadnavis
This is a massive turnaround for Fadnavis, the saffron party's biggest face in the state for years. In 2014, Devendra Fadnavis became the CM for the first time when the BJP was in a coalition with the then undivided Shiv Sena.
He became the second CM of Maharashtra to be in office for a full-term after Congress' Vasantrao Naik. After the 2019 polls, Shiv Sena walked out of the alliance amid tussle over CM post.
Following this, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath as the CM and Deputy CM. The government, however, lasted only 80 hours since Pawar returned to the NCP. The opposition taunted him on this in the assembly. To this, Fadnavis said: "Don't build a house on my shore after seeing my water receding, I am the ocean and I will definitely come back."
In 2022, Fadnavis was slated to become the CM again after the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government following Shinde's rebellion. He, however, agreed to be a Deputy CM under Shinde at the time.