Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday at a grand ceremony which was attended by several dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis and his deputies.
Fadnavis, who occupied the CM’s post for the third time, along with two deputy chief ministers took the oath of office. Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde also took oath as deputy chief ministers next.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai.Fadnavis, 54, elected from Nagpur South West constituency, became chief minister for the third time. Governor C P Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis and his two deputies.
Chief Ministers N Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar, Yogi Adityanath and other BJP ruled states also were present. Other members of the cabinet will likely take oath before the winter session of the assembly starts, BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar had said earlier in the day.
Fadnavis emerged as the frontrunner for the top post as he was the face of the BJP’s campaign and led the party to victory in 132 seats in the 288-member House. Together with allies Shiv Sena and NCP, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats.
However, the formation of the new government comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the November 20 state assembly polls and results on November 23.
On Wednesday, Fadnavis, with Shinde and Ajit Pawar, met Governor Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form a government, presenting letters of support from the coalition partners. Before that, Fadnavis was elected as leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting on Wednesday morning.
In 2014, Fadnavis was handpicked by Prime Minister Modi for the post after he led the party to its highest victory of 122 seats and completed five years at the helm. Five years later, in 2019, Fadnavis took oath as chief minister along with Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. But the government lasted for barely 72 hours.
