Mumbai: Devendra Fadnavis was on Friday sworn-in as Chief Minister of the first BJP government in Maharashtra at a grand ceremony where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made a last-minute appearance, raising the possibility of a rapprochement between the saffron parties.44-year-old Fadnavis, a third time MLA and the second Brahmin to occupy the top post in the state, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao at the Wankhede Stadium in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, several Union ministers and veterans LK Advani and MM Joshi among others
Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states including Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Manohar Parrikar (Goa), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and those governed by allies including Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Parkash Singh Badal (Punjab) also attended the event.Top industrialists along with other eminent personalities, including from Bollywood, and Fadnavis’ banker wife Amruta, were present at the packed venue when seven Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of State also took oath.
Former ally Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, whose party had decided to boycott the event citing “constant humiliation” by BJP ahead of government formation, attended the event along with his wife after a last-minute call by BJP President Amit Shah.With 121 BJP MLAs in a House of 288, Fadnavis is heading a minority government that has been asked to prove majority in two weeks. Sharad Pawar’s NCP with 41 MLAs has already declared unconditional outside support to the new government.
Cabinet Ministers who were sworn in are Eknath Khadse, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde — all members of the BJP’s state Core Committee–, Prakash Mehta, Chandrakant Patil and Vishnu Savara. The Ministers of State are Dilip Kamble and Vidya Thakur. Governor Rao has given Fadnavis 15 days from the day of being sworn in to prove his majority in the Assembly.BJP’s strength in the House has come down to 121 after the death of its MLA Govind Rathod, but it has claimed support of all seven independents and some from smaller parties.
NCP has said it will abstain from voting during the floor test if Sena were to sit in the opposition. This will help the Fadnavis government to sail through.However, taking 63-member Sena on board is still the best option available to Fadnavis to reach the magic figure of 145.
