Uddhav Thackeray sworn in as Maharashtra CM, six other ministers take oath

Shiv Sena president Uddhav B. Thackeray became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra from the Thackeray family when he was sworn-in at a grand function held at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Thursday evening. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office and secrecy to Uddhav Thackeray, 59, who donned a colourful kurta-pyjama attire. As a Maratha war bugle was sounded, Uddhav Thackeray went on to pay respect to Maratha hero Shivaji whose statue was kept on the dais.

Following Thackeray, Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut, NCP leaders Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal and Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai from the Shiv Sena took oaths as ministers in the new Maharashtra Cabinet

The event was attended by political heavyweights like Congress’ Ahmed Patel, DMK’s MK Stalin and TR Baalu, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis amongst many others. Businessman Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita Ambani were also among the attendees.

In an unusual gesture, soon after taking oath, Uddhav Thackeray stepped to the front of the stage and knelt down, touched his hands and head on the floor to express his gratitude to the people of Maharashtra for the honour bestowed on him.

Maharashtra saw the formation of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance government after Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress decided to come together after dramatic political developments.

The BJP tried to engineer a midnight coup, by lifting the President’s Rule in the wee hours and getting NCP leader Ajit Pawar to pledge his party’s support for a BJP-led government, hoping for a split within the NCP. Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.

But NCP supremo Sharad Pawar held fort and Ajit Pawar returned to his uncle’s fold after tendering his resignation and Fadnavis followed suit, conceding he did not have numbers on his side.

Shiv Sena breaking away from the BJP, its 30-year-old ally, may send out the warning signs to regional parties in the rest of the country who are allied with the BJP, specially the JD(U) in Bihar and Akali Dal in Punjab. The BJP has been growing all over India at the expense of regional forces and specially under the Modi-Shah regime, all powers have been concentrated in New Delhi.